Battling the Blizzard
by Labyrinth Fae
Summary: Amelia was a pokemon photographer with an enormous amount of student debt from college when her aspirations are shifted due to the suffering and abuse she witnesses behind scenes in Pokemon Contests. She saves the life of a young pokemon and runs, vowing to put an end to the torment... but with no money, loads of debt, and no name she has to carve her path in the trainer's world.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is rated M for mature for adult themes/violence, language, and topics. This is not a typical pokemon story and brings to light a more realistic type of world where everything isn't as great as it_ _seems or as cliche. Please enjoy and reviews are welcomed._

* * *

I went to school for all these years and for what? I thought being a Pokemon photographer would be more fun. I was always given behind the stage passes during contests and allowed to meet famous contestants, but I found that there was an emptiness within me. It was all superficial, the love between most trainers and their pokemon actually wasn't there. On stage it seemed like it, but behind the scenes a lot of trainers tormented their pokemon. They forced them to eat less, hitting them to reprimand, and did not allow them to evolve. I was beginning to hate the culture that I attended college for four years to be a part of.

It was rare to see those kind trainers who actually cared and more often than not they lost to those who bullied their partners into submission. But there was nowhere I could go. I _had_ to work, I _had_ to pay back my debts and I had no pokemon of my own.

Today, a minor competition was being held that I was being paid as the photographer. I was allowed backset to take pictures of the "pampering" and "process" in which they prepared themselves for the contest. Of course, I was not allowed to take pictures that were scandalizing. Not that I didn't, I kept an sd card with all of the abuse I had managed to snap over my few months of working. Maybe one day it would be put to good use, but all I could do now was hope none of the poor darlings were brutalized.

The show seemed to be getting on well and I was able to work my positions and snap many great pictures that I would late enhance with photoshop. Due to the contest being a lower tier show I noticed that some of the pokemon didn't always do what their trainers wanted. I winced, knowing what was in store for many of them, though none of them deserved it. Most of these pokemon were young and just needed more consistent training rather than beatings.

I was at my station behind stage when I heard a male voice cursing.

"You little shit! I paid so much money to have you sent here from Alola and you can't even follow directions," he shouted.

All of the other trainers barely paid him heed, going about their cleanup routines as if this were a normal occurrence. I lifted my camera and flipped on the video, placing it on the desk facing the perp who was shouting at the white vulpix, cowering in front of him.

"Those who can't follow directions aren't even worth teaching!" he snarled, bringing a fist down on top of the small fox without any restraint.

The pokemon's legs kicked out underneath it as it stumbled, dazed and bewildered by the blow from the trainer. I gasped, placing my hand over my mouth. Once the vulpix recovered slightly the man shouted an order, "Spin!"

But the vulpix did not even attempt to. It whimpered and cried and did not do as he requested. Its little tails tucked between its legs and it wailed pitifully. This did nothing to warrant pity or stop the onslaught. Each time the vulpix did not spin on command, it was given a solid hit until its pure white fur started to become stained with crimson.

Once the little fellow did not get up the trainer snorted in absolute disgust and left the scene. Everyone else had cleared the area, not wanting to bother themselves with the cries of the vulpix. I seized my camera and ran over the beaten creature. The vulpix's eyes were swollen shut and one tooth looked broken and bleeding.

I fumbled with my jacket and wrapped the poor thing in it, glancing around nervously. What should I do? It needed medical attention, but I wasn't certain if the trainer was going to come back and ask what I was doing.

 _You can't leave it with him, he'll kill it, the poor baby,_ a voice nagged within me, chasing away all reason.

It was still breathing, but who knew for how long.

I scurried over to my desk and packed my laptop and belongings. I threw the pack on my back and left the contest hall via the back entrance. I spotted a few contestants smoking in the back and chatting, but none really seemed to care about me or the bundle in my arms. I thanked whatever God was smiling on me and prayed that I did not bump into the perp who assaulted the pokemon.

The nearest center was a couple of miles away, but my legs churned and jogged the entire distance, cutting down the time it would have taken to get there.

I entered the center in flurry, my head swimming with deprivation of oxygen from the winded run that I never typically attempted. The adrenaline was gone and I stared at the nurse behind the desk with an expression of pure panic.

"I-I need help," I stammered as I brought the vulpix over and laid it on the desk.

The nurse blinked at me with apprehension. "Oh dear… Oh dear…" she reached over and pulled back my jacket before picking the limp creature up. She immediately picked up the phone. "I have a Code Blue down at the desk."

My shoulders were shaking from both exhaustion and worry, a few other nurses and a doctor appeared at the scene. The nurse I had been speaking with disappeared and was replaced by another medical attendant who was not needed to assist the vulpix.

"I need your trainer ID," he told me.

"I-I'm not a trainer, but here is my regular ID," I rummaged through my back and pulled out my wallet, fingers shaking.

The man took it and scanned the back. "Then you don't have a pokeball for this vulpix either, then?"

"No, s-someone beat him and left him. I took him here as fast as I could," I explained.

He nodded and then fed my ID through a strange copy machine. "Go take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment."

I nodded apprehensively before heading over to the waiting area. I nearly bumped into the young man behind me, pardoning myself, I dragged my body to one of the chairs. Were they going to give the pokemon back to its trainer?

I placed my hands on my face and elbows on my knees. What had I done? I had thrown out everything over this pokemon. I had so much debt that I needed to pay and now I wouldn't have a job. If anyone discovered what I had done there was a good chance that I would be banned from all of the contest halls. Four years down the drain, all for this vulpix.

"Ma'am-" I glanced up to see the attendant in front of me with a few things. "Take these, this is a trainer ID and here is a pokeball," he handed me my original license and a new one with a strange number on it. In the other hand was a white premier ball. "If anyone asks, that vulpix is yours and it escaped and got itself into some trouble with the local gang. They'll know those wounds were human inflicted, but I will vouch for you. Whoever did that to the poor creature does not deserve it back and this is the only way they will not get it back, if you take it."

Holding the objects I stared at him blearily. "And how what will I do? I just threw my job away for this vulpix," I whimpered.

"I know you're a bit older than most trainers, but training pokemon does earn good money if you're good at it."

"Why would I want to make that poor thing fight after all it has been through?"

"Battles have rules and if you push your pokemon to the point of death you can be arrested. I don't know where you found this one, but if my assumptions are right it was probably a pokemon contest. The trainers there get away with murder because there are no witnesses or evidence. Please take him."

I couldn't say no after all I had done. I nodded mutely and clung to the things he had given me before sinking into thought. I had never been interested in training pokemon. I had always thought it brutish and more of a boy's sport. I had the opportunity when I was young, but had decided to stay in school. After all, your chances to become a big shot were slim to none and I had always been dazzled by the shows contests put on.

How ironic it that the monsters were the contest-goers.

"Pardon me," an older woman said to me from a seat not to far away. "I couldn't help but overhear the conversation-" my skin prickled "-and I wanted you to know that my son is a pokemon professor. He lives a few towns over and if you explained your situation, I'm certain he'd be willing to set you on the right path to become a trainer."

I blinked away my bewilderment from the older woman's kind gesture. "I… Thank you, where does he live?"

"Littleroot Town, here take this it'll get you a ride from Slateport to Petalburg, then you can walk the rest of the way," she rifled through her purse and pulled out a boat ticket, offering it to me.

"Thank you… thank you so much."

"There aren't many kind souls like yours out there and I wanted to show my appreciation. Not many would risk what you have, dear. Good luck," after handing me the ticket the old woman stood up and departed, as if she had only been there to distribute the ticket the entire time.

I waited for an unnerving few hours before the nurse came out and informed me that I could see the vulpix. No one asked me what had happened and I wondered if the male attendant had given them a recount of "my story". It made things easier for me than having to lie.

The vulpix was conscious and lying on one of the tables. He had a few bandages, but for the most part appeared healed, though I did not know how they had managed to do it so swiftly.

I approached warily, seeing that he probably didn't know I had saved him. The small creature blinked at me with bloodshot eyes and after catching a whiff of me he nodded his head before placing it down on the table.

I was able to reach out and run my fingers through its soft tendrils of fur. I was overwhelmed by all of it and almost just picked him up. Had he been awake when I ran him to the center? Did he recognize my scent?

I could not say, but the creature let me touch him without hesitation despite what a human had just done to him.

 _It's not right that they get away with this_ , I thought as I pet him. _It has to be stopped._


	2. Chapter 2

In the coming days, Cullen found himself swamped with requests, especially those regarding Doctor Entwhistle. Rumor had spread that she was an apostate from a far off land, perhaps even from across the ocean in the abyss that no one knew how to traverse and that he gifts were of a different kind of magic… which was just preposterous seeing that Cullen had grown up with her.

He and Cassandra, who later met Leona, had to cipher through the requests of people complaining of petty illnesses just so they could get a glimpse of the doctor. Unless they were showing symptoms of the plague they were routed to mage healers despite their pleas and intrigue in this doctor.

As requested, a skilled herbologist accompanied Doctor Entwhistle through her endeavors and took complex notes on what the doctor was doing. Cullen had once overheard her mentioning how Leona had a chemistry set in which she tampered with the materials she crafted from different monster parts and herbs. Rather than seeing perturbed, the herbologist was excited, having never seen such a method of preparing medicine, as potions used a different set of flasks and method of heating.

After two days, since the doctor was delayed by visitors she refused to turn away, she had concocted the medicine she requested that all members of the Inquisition who had not contracted the plague to take.

The leaders of the Inquisition informed her that she could start with the regular members and that they would take their medicine once everyone else had been tended to. Doctor Entwhistle even took her own medicine to prove to Cassandra that it was no poison, despite the herbologist's agreement.

"She could easily make an antidote when we are not looking," Cassandra grumbled, glancing down at the vile with a dreaded green viscous liquid in it.

"I have nothing to gain from killing you all," Doctor Entwhistle shrugged, not bothered by the accusations, as if she had expected some resistance upon her arrival. "The Order of Hunters has no affiliation… yet," a small smile tucked itself onto the doctor's sweet face, like a hint of mischief on a child's.

Despite her chipper attitude the woman showed signs of fatigue. Dark bags had formed underneath her eyes, but she moved with persistence and without lethargy. She offered Josephine and Cullen their flasks. She had another, reserved for the Inquisitor, who she had yet to meet.

Mayella materialized at the door, swaggering in, her eyes scanning the tower room that the doctor had put together for herself. One one end there was a work station, her boxes had been stacked on top of one another to form shelves that contained various materials. The tool crate was next to a patient table. A chemistry table was set up alongside of the boxes and had recently been cleaned. A few book cases had also been given to the doctor, though they were relatively empty at that time.

A desk was on the far side of the room opposite of the chemistry table, scattered with a few of the doctor's journals. The tub was also in the lower quarter. Her bed and wardrobe were up above on the upper terrace of the tower, separating her private life from her professional one.

"Inquisitor, a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance," Leona said politely, bowing respectfully.

Mayella had an air of disdain about her and appeared rather irritable as she waved away Leona's greeting. The doctor, still stooped at a bow at her waist, glancing up and scrutinized the Inquisitor.

She stood fully when she realized she wasn't going to be addressed and was visibly a little ruffled by the lack of an exchange. Leona's posture became absolutely erect, like she was balancing books on top of her head. She snatched up the last flask and brought it over to Mayella, who she glanced down at with the same amount of disdain that the Trevelyan had showed her.

When Leona turned, Cullen caught the fraction of a second when the doctor wrinkled her nose, as if noticing something smelly.

Leona spun back around and clasped her hands together. That day she wore trousers, her suspenders, and a cleaned button down, her sleeves rolled up. She had a small ribbon tie, but it had been undone. A few of her golden strands of hair had also come loose from her low ponytail.

"Now, as I've told everyone before, this medicine is to keep the plague from infecting you. Is it guaranteed? No, if you still needlessly expose yourself you have a chance of contracting it. Such examples of very easy ways to contract it, ingesting fluids of an infected, whether it be through battle or otherwise. Airborne threat is now reduced due to this medicine. There are also side effects that would bother you within the first day, which include nausea and upset stomach. If you are worried about anything before taking this, such as being pregnant or you think you are already infected, please speak now," Leona opened the floor and no one piped up. "Very well, please take the full dosage of what I have given you."

No one was eager to put it down, but after a moment of considering each of them tried to get the slop to come out of their vile. The liquid moved at a painful pace and while it had no scent it was tart and bitter. The faces of those taking it reflected the terrible taste.

"I suggest that each of you get a good day's rest, but I have a feeling none of you shall heed me," Leona mused before retrieving the stained viles. "Commander, if I could just speak with you after, I need a notice put out."

Despite his roiling stomach, Cullen turned away from the door that the others were exiting from and went back to the doctor.

"Yes?"

Leona closed the door behind the last of them and turned back to Cullen. "Is the Inquisitor always like that?"

"Er… No, I don't know what has gotten into her today."

"Hm, yes… she just displayed some strange symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Cullen echoed, arching a brow at her.

"Lethargy, lack of attention to her surroundings… If you say these things are unlike her, then there could be something else going on. Her eyes were bloodshot and she might have been sporting quite a headache from the way she moved her eyes down and away from candlelight."

"You observed that much?"

"That's my job, Cullen. Patients lie and I have to try and observe things that they may not realize or they don't want to tell me."

He might have felt pressure under the tempered stare of the doctor, but due to his training and work as a commander he simply shrugged. "I'll look into it," he promised, despite knowing that it might be her exposure to the red lyrium. As much as the doctor seemed to care, she could very well be sending information to the Hunters while no one was looking. Until the doctor's skills showed some results he would wait on revealing more to her, just as she would with her Order.

"Go get some rest, you're looking a little blue around the gills."

Cullen couldn't help but chuckle at her. "Green around the gills," he corrected.

"You knew what I meant," the woman scowled before returning to clean up the vials. "Oh yes and the notice. I want you to put it up saying that the stomach sickness will pass in a day, drink water and make certain to eat. Other than that there is nothing else I can offer unless someone has a very severe reaction. I shall remain here, preparing for my trip to the afflicted in two days."

Cullen was sick as a dog that evening, just as Leona said he probably would be. He spent most of it retching and from the sounds around the installment, he knew many others were just as ill. However, after a night's rest he no longer had any stomach issues, but instead was lightheaded and followed up with drinking water to rehydrate himself. He was offered a wonderful breakfast to wake him up, apparently "On the doctor's orders." The notion made him smile to himself and he found it easy to tuck the meal away in his empty stomach. Despite the prior night of torment, Cullen found himself in a rather splendid mood.

The two days passed swiftly and aside from one or two outliers who insisted on seeing the doctor, everyone else recovered within the day's span, just as promised. It was then that the doctor disappeared into the abyss with the afflicted, signs on her doors to her tower prohibiting entrance due to possible exposure.

A few days into her descent he received a disturbing report about a strange creature on the mountainside. It was described as only favoring night time to emerge and it patrolled a certain area. Most often people were not even certain if it were real due to the fact that it seemed to blur from vision often. The only reason they knew it to be real were for the travelers making their way to Skyhold were massacred in ornate ways to a point that many speculated it was not possible for any mortal to accomplish such a feat. One report described of body parts being strew over the tops of barren trees far out of the reach of any person.

The most disturbing part was a patrol that tried to lay a trap for it. According to the surviving soldiers, it moved like mist evading the trap entirely, no blade would pierce its ethereal flesh, and its screech was so terrible that it made ears bleed.

Perhaps the soldiers are over exaggerating, Cullen thought. It could have been a demon, but even these descriptions did not quite fit any of those he knew of. He wondered if he should send for the doctor to draw upon her expertise.

No, she's too busy with the ill. I will take a patrol and investigate this for myself. If I need the doctor, we will come back, he decided before sending out the report for his lieutenants to pass down so a patrol could be organized.

Ever since Leliana had gone, the duties of the spymaster had become split amongst those who still worked in Skyhold with the Inquisitor. Cullen had taken over the scouts and their patrols, as well as much of the intel they collected. He would often pass it on, seeing that his own forces took up enough of his time. Thankfully, it wasn't as much as when they had been fighting Corypheus, but it still seemed like the paperwork never ceased.

A couple of hours passed and Cullen finished the tiny stack that had been on his desk before he grabbed what equipment he would need from inside of the tower, seeing that his men would prepare the rest.

He stepped outside and grimaced, dismayed that the pleasant weather decided not to hold up for this patrol. The sky was a smattering of grey and the temperature had dropped to a frosty chill. Breaths left the mouths of their creators like a ghostly entity leaving the body. Many men had donned thick cloaks to combat the frigid weather and glanced over at their commander as he approached, cheeks flushed, drawing his own fluffy cloak closer to try and evade the bite of the wind.

His lieutenants would have debriefed the men that had been chosen to go with him and so he gave a simple nod before taking the reins to the horse that had been prepared for him. Mounting up, he could tell it was going to be an uncomfortable ride.

The party rode for a few hours until they came upon the location that was described in the reports. Nothing seemed out of place, but then again it was still daytime. The rumored creature was said to be nocturnal.

"I want a camp set up downwind of this area. Prepare some fires and we'll wait till the sky grows dark. From what I've read it won't take much to lure this thing out, so I want the camp fully lit and men on guard. Keep the horses reined tightly, whatever it is might spook them when it grows near," Cullen ordered as his men saluted and went off repeating what he had just declared.

With them heading off the road and into the snowy woods, Cullen was left to glance around at the area. The snow of the road had been downtrodden and dirtied, but it was the flanks that he was interested in. Droplets of blood from past victims were perfectly preserved in the top layer of snow. It wasn't as much as Cullen had been expecting, but he still found the traces of the last kills.

His eyes then went up into the trees, but he saw none of the body parts that the reports mentioned. The trees were daunting, glaring down at him as if he were intruding. None of the boroughs held any recent snowfall, despite the fact that Cullen knew it snowed regularly in the area.

Once he was satisfied, Cullen turned to join the others, a chill stabbing down his neck as he left the scene. He walked the feeling off, but at that moment he really wished he had drawn upon Doctor Entwhistle's expertise in this field.

* * *

Conversation was low among the men, just as morale seemed to be. Fear crept into their voices as they recounted the macabre details of the reports, much of what they said being exaggerated. However, even not exaggerated the stories were still grim.

Cullen rested by the fire, his hand subconsciously resting on the hilt of his sword, prepared to unsheathe it with a moment's notice.

A gust of wind tumbled into their camp and blew harshly against the fires. None were put out, but they dimmed for what seemed like eternity. The chill the wind brought was so sharp and painful that many got to their feet, disturbed by the feeling. Some strained their eyes past the guard of the light, wondering if they had spotted something in the distance.

A piercing screech like the steel being slowly dragged against slate ground against the ears of everyone in the clearing. A wind did not blow in, but the fires seemed to be terrified by the sound and crept lower to the ground.

Swords sang from the scabbards and another scream sounded, but of the not the creature. A soldier was flung back and onto one of the dim fires, putting it out entirely and leaving only one fire. Many expected him to get up, his back scorched in the flames. He did not.

From his peripheral vision Cullen though he saw a cloaked figure that shifted and moved above the snow. Its face was hidden within the depths of its cowl and it held a wicked blade that appeared to be made out of white light.

The soldiers were rigid for a moment, realizing where the beast was. For a moment, there was a still staredown between them and it.

The being faded from existence, its cloak melding with the shadows behind it.

"The fire…" Cullen breathed, before its respite. "Torches! Get torches!" he cried, but as if on cue the dervish appeared again and whirled through the soldiers in front of it. The commander watched as their blade passed through its cloak and did not pierce it. He and his lieutenant managed to grab nearby branches, dousing them in the dwindling fire beside them.

The monster has no issues in disengaging the entire patrol. It sat within the shadows just opposite of the fire flames, waiting for either the unholy wind to take it out or for the pair to step out. In the distance he could hear the horses crying in fright, carried on the wind. This was not a fight they could win.

Cullen and his lieutenant exchanges glances. "The horses…" he breathed. He had never anticipated fully facing the beast, but wanted to observe it. He had not thought it would be as powerful or intelligent as it seemed to be. The whole purpose of this mission had been to observe, not to truly make contact with it. He had not thought it would take out his entire patrol as if they were made of cheese.

While his lieutenant was circling around, a torch in his hand, a blazing beacon, Cullen placed himself in front of the creature, his sword glinting madly against the firelight. Anger swirled within him, anger for his lost men, anger for his foolishness, and anger for the atrocity he faced. Whatever it was it needed to be destroyed.

The being reared, its misty white blade flashing against the light.

Cullen swung his torch in its direction, the creature evaded but screeched in great distaste. It seemed to dislike the light, but was too set on its prey to leave… as if they were invading its space.

Cullen heard the thundering of horses behind him, many of the horses of the fallen had been let loose as a distraction. He tried to use the noise to his advantage, but as he lunged forward the humanoid brought its wicked dagger down. Cullen deflected it, but as he did his blade shattered against the impact with the the monster's blade. Stunned, he staggered back and before he could deter the being with the torch in wisped forward and sunk its weapon into his shoulder.

It should have glanced off of his armor, but the blade was made of something unknown to the commander. It pierced his armor, leaving no mark, but seared deep into Cullen's flesh, making him cry out in terrible pain. Nothing could describe the onrush of emotions that forced him to his knees. The blade in which it wielded was unholy.

Before he could process what was happening, everything went dark.


	3. Chapter 3

The cruise was slated to dock in Petalburg in four days, meaning I got to enjoy this all inclusive cruise. I had assumed this was more of a ferry ride and wondered why the only woman would give me such a precious ticket for something so luxurious. Maybe Professor Birch would have more answers about the strange mannerisms of his mother, but until then Sirius and I would enjoy the pampering we knew would be gone in the blink of an eye.

I battled with Charlie occasionally, the kid never seemed as if he had enough.

Truthfully, the both of us just like to relax and lounge by one of the pools. I went on my laptop and read while Sirius slept by my feet.

Today was particularly louder than usual. People were playing some sort of game in the pool with a ball, pokemon including, and there was a lot of splashing and ruckus. I put my headphones in, but even Sirius twitched with annoyance by my feet. At some points we were dampened by mist that came our way and Sirius would let out a little grumble.

Eventually, it had become so wet that a man slipped and fell right in front of us.

Sirius stood up immediately, letting out a shrill call as his fur stood on end, rage boiling over at this point.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" I asked, sitting up from my seat.

Before I even got an answer a large creature trundled down the path and skidded to an ungraceful halt, falling over the man as well. It then commenced in swamping his face in slobbery licks.

Pushing the arcanine off of him, the man glanced up at me.

"I think I can manage if I can get this mutt off of me," he replied.

The arcanine should have been enough to knock most anyone unconscious, but the man's size rivaled many that I had seen before. He was quite scruffy looking, his short cropped dark hair an absolute mess and a scraggly beard that appeared as if it needed to be washed to go along with it. He was broad and powerfully built and have sleeves of tattoos.

"C'mon Kojak, get off then," he shoved the massive beast off. "Sorry, not much of a proper introduction. My name is Liam and this is Kojak. Would you fancy a drink? This place makes the best Mai-Tais."

Sirius let out a long yawn and glowered at the slobbering arcanine. "Did you trip yourself on purpose?" I mused, closing my laptop.

"Not entirely, but I'm glad I ended up in front of you and not some of those ladies down there," he nodded in the direction of some plump middle aged women who were bursting out of their too small bikinis, waving at every attractive man who walked by them.

"I think they'd adore your attention," I told him cheekily, I didn't have money to purchase a beverage. You had to pay for anything alcoholic. "And I'm more of a whisky sour girl."

"What was your father a fisherman? A fair lady such as yourself drinking whisky?" he arched a heavy brow at me.

"Actually, my father is a fisherman."

"That's it, isn't it then! I'll buy," he offered.

I glanced at Sirius. "What do you think?"

The vulpix was indifferent, which I supposed wasn't a bad thing. I looked back to Liam. "Fine, I guess just one wouldn't hurt."

Liam and I headed for the bar, in which I noticed the differences between the both of us. The man was at least three heads taller than me, I was petite and he was over 6 feet. My own skin was fair and freckled. His skin was tanned and weathered, mostly covered in his dark hair. He might have been around my age, he could have been older, it was difficult for me to tell.

"A Mai-Tai for me and a whisky sour for the lady," he ordered before turning back to me. "So what is a fisherman's daughter doing on a boat like this. Have you got any family with you?"

"No, I'm taking the ship to Petalburg and heading to Littleroot- Ah, thank you," I said to the bartender as my drink was slid over. I took a sip of it, the sour tang stinging my tongue. I hadn't drank in quite a while and somehow I looked forward to it all, putting all the dark thoughts in my head aside and enjoying this conversation with the good looking stranger who seemed interested in me. "I'm a photographer," I told him, after taking the straw from my lips. "But I've decided I wanted to become a trainer… for personal reasons."

"You're a bit old to start your journey…" he commented, but then smiled. "But I've met older. Sometimes being older makes you a better trainer. Do you mind if I ask why?"

I stiffened at his forwardness. "I want to get my name out there… so I can address some issues I've seen in the world. I want people to take me seriously and it seems that being a trainer is the best way to do it."

"Issues such as?..."

"Pokemon abuse," I grimaced, my partner brushing against my leg as he glanced up at me, mewing.

Liam took notice. "Is that where you got your vulpix?"

"Perhaps," I retorted defensively.

"It's just a bit strange, a girl from Johto in Hoenn has a Alolan vulpix…"

"You don't know where I've traveled, I'm a photographer, remember?"

Liam breathed a laugh at me before raising his hazel eyes, leveling them at me. "I'm not challenging you, just be careful. The community that you've taken him from is not the kindest, you've seen what they've done to their pokemon, now imagine what they'll do to you if they find you. You better become one hell of a pokemon trainer and _fast_."

I hadn't even mentioned who it was, but it seemed that pokemon contestants had a tongue in cheek reference from others. "I'm actually trying to get out of the country once Professor Birch gets me started. I have a feeling trying to earn my badges here will be too dangerous."

"A wise decision," Liam leaned back on the bar, nearly finished with his Mai-Tai. "Where were you hoping to go?"

"I would love to go to Alola, but I don't think I'd get the recognition I want and I don't have the funds… I don't really have the funds to go anywhere actually," I sighed, running my free hand through my hair.

"Well," Liam started his proposition. "I'm an international investigator and I'm going to Sinnoh after my little vacation. If you'd like, I'll make a few phone calls and see if I can make you apart of our Witness Protection act. In which case, I'd move you from this country to another to 'Start a new life'."

I winced at his mention of investigator. He was some sort of police officer and I hadn't noticed it. Maybe it was his beard and I just assumed that all police were clean shaven _or_ all his tattoos. He certainly was large and athletic, I should have suspected more. "Did you know who I was? Is that why you spoke with me?" I asked setting down my glass, a little put off.

"Partly. As I said, I'm on vacation but I do check the logs for suspicious persons. You were reported lower tier, since my organization doesn't really like contest members. To be honest, I wanted to see how the vulpix was doing and it seems as if he's rather happy. I also saw the report at the pokemon center, said you were his trainer, someone helped you out didn't they?"

I recalled the day and my eyes watered at the thought of Sirius in such a deplorable state. It seemed like a lifetime ago, despite only a few days passing. "Yes, the clerk did. He gave me an ID card and registered vulpix to me. I've never had interest in being a trainer until now, it might be the only way to unveil the terrible events that go on behind the scenes. They didn't see me as a threat as a photographer, but they will once we become stronger."

"Then as far as I know, you acquired that vulpix by trade from an Alolan cousin," Liam winked at me, alleviating the stress on my shoulders. "You say you're a photographer, do you have any pictures?"

My brows pulled together as I became more serious. "Yes, a lot. I documented much of what went on when I could be discreet and capture it. I also have a video of Sirius's buyer beating him after the show. I don't think any of it is good enough quality to be damning, except for that man, so I'd need more."

"Would you mind downloading it to a flash so I can have a copy? That's all I require for payment if my connections come through and you can fly out to Sinnoh," he told me.

"And how do I know this is not some elaborate way to pick me up?" I jested, but I still was a bit dubious without any real proof.

"You don't," he said raising his brows, but a goofy smile soon followed and he reached back into his trunks and pulled out his wallet. Flipping it open a shiny golden badge glinted at me in the light. With the faint glimpse I got at it I noted that etched into it was a rank and then a strange pin, like a pokemon gym badge, that mentioned something about being a hall of fame champion. He snapped it shut before I could really make anything else out. "But I really did want to buy you a drink, not for business's sake. I'm on vacation after all, I get to talk to pretty girls and buy them drinks if I so choose too."

I didn't know why his flattery failed to amuse me, but I simply shrugged at him and glanced out past the bar and toward the ocean. "You know… I took classes to be an underwater photographer. That's what I wanted to do if my original job fell through and I couldn't get in. Sometimes I wished I would have stuck with it, but then I wouldn't have met Sirius or be here."

"Why did you choose contest over the ocean?"

"More money… I understand why now," I grumbled before finishing my whisky sour.

* * *

The last couple of days I spent in deep thought and preparing for the journey to Sinnoh that I was very ill equipped for. I ended up having to call my parents, who I knew never had a plethora of money. I explained my situation in full to them, I could never lie to such honest, hard working people and I knew they'd be more proud if they knew the truth rather than a mask of it.

"Oh darling, I'm so sorry you had to go through that, but you're on a better path now," my mother assured me as Sirius sat in the frame of the camera within the room.

My father was a bit more stoic and hard to read. His arms were crossed and his grey beard bristled as he stared at me for a hard, long time. "You're doing the right thing," he told me. "It's not always the easiest, but I'm glad I raised out right. Now you're finally following my suggestion of being a pokemon trainer, though not under the same circumstances… Your mother and I have some money put away that we were hoping to save for when you either got married or had a child. We can wire you some so you can purchase what you need for Sinnoh. I know the weather is a bit colder there."

I could feel the tears prickling in my eyes. "Thank you so much, I'll pay you back once my training endeavors pick up, I promise."

"Don't worry about it honey, you make your mother and I proud. We couldn't ask for a better, more levelheaded daughter."

"I'll pay you back," I told him stubbornly.

My father glared obstinately back through the screen. His mustache twitched and then he broke out into laughter. "Just as stubborn as me. Pay off your student debts first and then we can talk about you paying us back. If you do well as a trainer you'll be paying off that 5,000,000 poke at a better pace than when you were a photographer."

My mother had disappeared to retrieve her computer, sliding her reading glasses down onto her nose as she logged onto her bank account. She muttered something to my father and he nodded.

"We're sending you 250,000 Poke' to get yourself situated. Buy _good_ equipment and buy it online, shops are expensive," my father told me as he began scribbling things down. "I'll make a detailed list of what you'll need."

"250,000 Poke'! Do I really need that much?"

"With what you have to buy, yes. The left over will be for potions, poke'balls, and what you need to pay out to trainers if you lose… so don't lose your battles. You said you already invested in a bike so that's a load off of our shoulders for money."

"Yes, 100,000 Poke' for the bike, it was just about all I had saved up," I sighed.

"Try hiking websites, you'll find the best equipment there," my mother piped before my father finished with the details on the computer.

"There, you should see the money later today, I'd put in orders today if I were you and pick them up at a local post office. Pay for rushed shipping."

"Thank you again," I sighed, some of the stress now off of my shoulders.

"Spend it wisely and good luck. Please keep in touch dear," my father told me before we went through our goodbyes and I took out my laptop to start hunting for supplies. My poke'nav dinged and I saw the list my father had sent me for supplies.

The largest items were a tent, sleeping bag, a bedroll or mat, sleeping bag insulation (for colder areas), a large supply bike rack, a matching pack that would mount, and then all the clothing and other hygiene products I would need for the journey. My father made certain to mention that despite not packing a lot of clothing, pokemon centers had areas where trainers could board for free and wash their clothing, meaning a couple of days without washing the clothes, as long as the undergarments were clean, would not be a big deal.

The majority of my supplies came out to just over 100,000 Poke' and that didn't even include my clothes. I went for finer materials that were better tailored than some of the cuter and cheaper alternatives. I found I was partial to dresses and ordered those more often than pants, but I had to be certain I had a coat and underclothes that would keep me from freezing my tush off in the colder areas of Sinnoh. All in all I had 50,000 Poke' remaining from my shopping spree, a good chunk just being shipping alone. I had never spent that much all at once and while it was exhilarating it was also nerve wracking. Did I purchase the right things? What if they weren't a good size when I got them? I didn't have time to return them.

And before I knew it, the lovely four day trip was over.


	4. Chapter 4

The docks were just slightly north of Petalburg City. Charlie gave me a hug goodbye and said he was staying on the ship till they ported elsewhere. Liam told me to meet him back to Petalburg City in one week's time. We would be taking a bush plane from Petalburg to Lilycove where we would fly to Sinnoh.

Once we were in the city I stopped by the post office that I had rushed the shipping to. I picked up what had to be four good sized packages, none too heavy, and borrowed a trolley, leaving my ID with them so that I could unpack it at the pokemon center and return with it.

I unpacked and organized as swiftly as possible. Most of the camping pieces all came from the same company so they all attached and fit cohesively. Figuring out how to put it all on my bike was a bit more work and finagling, but eventually I solved that issue as well. I packed my new clothes away neatly, knowing I wouldn't need them until I was in Sinnoh, though they were new and felt well made. I was tempted to put them on.

After retrieving my ID, Sirius and I spent the remainder of the day picking up travel hygienic products, a few poke'balls, and potions. We weren't in any hurry to leave so we stopped by the pokemon gym to glance around. There was a suggested trainer level of at least five badges, which left us turning tail and heading back around the city. I contemplated going to the Petalburg Woods for fun, but we just ended up throwing our rod into one of the local ponds.

We stayed at the pokemon center for the night, enjoying the free accommodations for trainers.

The next morning we were off and onto route 102. It was a bit irritating to be stopped by so many young trainers. They spotted Sirius in my basket and immediately wanted a battle, in which they swiftly met their demise. Just as Charlie had told me, their battle tactics were not developed and they were slower. On my part, it was a bit perplexing having to hold back so that it did not seem like an unfair fight when Sirius could put in three moves before they even managed one.

Having to battle them all was probably the most exhausting part and due to all the stops we ended up camping on the route for the evening.

We could hear the Poocheyna howling and growling out in the woods around us, but we knew they wouldn't approach our fire. We settled down for the night, bike chained to a tree and supplies inside the tent with us.

The next day was much of the same, though we made it to Littleroot by noontime. The battles were not hard, there were just so many young and aspiring trainers that it took _forever._

Littleroot was a cute little rural town, reminding me much of my own home in Johto. People milled around, enjoying their mundane lives. I had heard that many great trainers hailed from such a quaint little hovel.

The laboratory was not hard to spot seeing that it was the only building that appeared decades newer and had a more modern appearance to it. I put away my camera that I had been using to snap pictures of the cute place. I found myself logging our adventures so far with pictures here and there that I would later upload to my cloud on my computer once we go to a pokemon center.

The lab was huge and intimidating. I felt as if I were intruding as I went in, white coats swirling around and tending to their own business. Charlie had described to me what Professor Birch looked like and after a bit of perusing I found the man hunched over a computer, typing some sort of research material up.

"Excuse me, are you Professor Birch?" I asked.

It took the professor a moment to snap out of his concentration. He turned and acknowledged me before finishing the sentence on the screen.

"Yes I am, what can I help you with- Oh! What a beautiful vulpix, I've never actually gotten to see an Alolan form Vulpix before," he said, smiling down at Sirius once he had observed him.

"Thank you. We're here because we're starting our pokemon journey together and an older woman, claiming to be your mother sent us this way."

"Claiming to be my mother?" he asked, his brows furrowing.

"Yes, she gave us this ticket for a cruise ship so that we could get over here," I pulled the ticket out of my pocket and showed it to him.

"I- Very well. It looks like you're well situated with supplies. Let me see if I've got another poke'dex. I had a lot of aspiring trainers this year," he told me before he went off to rummage through drawers. Finally he returned with a poke'dex. "Do you know how to work one of these?"

"A boy named Charlie showed me his, I just assume you point it at pokemon you want to learn things about?"

"It will also show you habitats of pokemon you spot, so if you wanted to catch them you could find them. There are many other features as well, but I suppose you'll get to playing with it and will unlock what it has to offer… You're quite a bit older than most others who want to become trainers."

"I had aspirations of my own, I'm trying to become an advocate against pokemon abuse and this is a stepping stone."

He gave Sirius a long look. "Hm, that must be how you acquired him, then?"

"Yes…" I drawled.

"I have another pokemon, if you're interested. I've had a bit of trouble working with her because she was bred for an illegal betting ring. Your vulpix is very attached to you, perhaps you could try training the pokemon I have. She is very shy and easily scared, she's aggressive in reaction of any of her fears. Training will not be easy."

"What will happen to her if I don't take her?"

"If she doesn't improve, which she hasn't, we may have to put her down. She's already bit one of my associates."

Sirius gave me a sidelong glance. This might be more than I could handle. "I'll take her," I told him. If I wanted to be an advocate for pokemon abuse how could I turn down any pokemon?

Professor Birch retrieved a black luxury ball and handed it to me as if it were a hot potato. "Don't release her in here, she might tear the place apart."

"What is… she?" I asked glancing down at the ball.

"A Gible, already a hard pokemon to take care of, add traumatic birth and upbringing to that and you've got this one."

"Oh dear," I muttered wondering if I could give the poke'ball back or if it were too late. I hesitantly clipped the new ball to my fancy new poke'ball belt and looked back at the professor.

"Now Rustboro city is where you can find your first gym to battle and kick off your pokemon adventure. It's about a four day walk, three day bike ride due to the density of the forest, making it had to simply pedal through it-"

"Actually, I'm heading to Sinnoh in a few days."

"Sinnoh?" he echoed. "You could have just went and saw Professor Rowan instead of me… but I suppose things happen for a reason. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"I've taken up enough of your time, Professor, thank you," I gave him an appreciative nod before Sirius and I went back out into the town. "How bad do you suppose this Gible is?" I asked him.

Sirius glanced up and let out a low chattering noise. I suppose he didn't have a good answer either.

I went to the post where my bike was locked up and unlatched it, slipping Sirius into the basket before we took back off toward Petalburg. Dusk fell upon us and we unpacked as we had the nights before, only this time I sat by our fire holding the Gible's poke'ball.

"I suppose we should meet her, this is the best place, away from others."

A dark light emitted from the ball and a small, bluish pokemon sat groggily in front of us. It blinked open its tiny eyes. While it was still waking I pulled out my poke'dex.

" _Gible, the land shark pokemon. It nests in horizontal holes warmed by geothermal heat. Foes who get too close can expect to be pounced on and bitten,_ " the poke'dex told us.

The sudden voice immediately stirred it and the Gible opened its enormous mouth. I swear the little beast was 70% mouth and then the rest of her was contained in the tiny 30% left. She leered at me and lunged forward without me saying as much of a word. The Gible moved so fast I didn't even have time to react.

Sirius yowled and stood in between the Gible and I. His fur stood on end and he glowered at the Gible who had been forced back and to her rear. He panted heavily and glared at the opposition the Gible had given me. He then began chirping, somewhat like a lower talking.

I obviously did not know what he was saying, but he sounded as if he were speaking with the Gible.

She sat up and gave me a dubious look before turning back to Sirius. She retorted something but then calmed down as Sirius took his seat in between us, his fur settling. He then began grooming himself, though his ears twitched at the slightest noise.

The tension between us all did not leave, but at least Gible seemed somewhat complacent. I opened my bag and pulled out the poke'food, sliding it past Sirius so that Gible would also have access to it. Gible was pleased by the heat of the fire, sidling closer. She eventually picked up some of the food with her paw and tossed it into her mouth, swallowing it suspiciously. Once she deemed it good enough she continued to eat it with her paws.

Once or twice I caught Gible stealing a glance at me, but the moment I turned to look at her she immediately looked away.

Eventually, we settled down and I returned Gible to her ball, knowing she wasn't ready to be left out for the evening. Sirius snuggled up to me in the tent, I could see the dipping out the embers just through the skin of the tent as they dwindled down to nothing, every so often a distant pop stirring me.

The next few days of travel pass with issue for the most part aside from one with Gible. She was getting a little better and I decided to try her out in battle. It had been a terrible mistake and misjudgement on my part. It had slipped my mind that in betting rings the pokemon _killed_ each other and the winner pressed on. Once I realized that Gible wasn't going to leave my opponent's Ralts alone I had to send Sirius in to stop her before I could return her to her ball. Fortunately no one was harmed that time, but it seemed that Gible would need conditioning before she could be used for battle.

We made it back to Petalburg with a day to spare and so I spent half of it fishing and then went to train Gible. Sirius was a good opponent for her seeing that he had the type advantage and he was faster. I had been told frequently by observers of my battles that Sirius was one of the swiftest vulpixes they had ever seen. I knew he'd only grow so more when he evolved.

It didn't go too badly, I had to reinforce that attacking without command was negative, but it was difficult to train her not to fight after the opponent had fainted because Sirius wouldn't lose to her. He seemed to be able to speak with her in some way, coaching her in ways that I could not. I thought I could almost see a gleam of admiration for the vulpix in Gible's eyes, but she had not shown me the same yet.

Finally, the day to leave for Sinnoh came. I had my bike folded and packed away, only my satchel and heavy, overstuffed hiking bag to show for it. Sirius sat patiently beside me as we waited for a sign of Liam.

He was hard to miss.

The moment he came into the small airport, Kojak panting beside him, tongue lolling, I spotted him for he towered over everyone and made them look like dwarves, especially me.

He appeared a bit more tan from his trip.

"How was the rest of your vacation?" I asked him as he headed in my direction. I suppose I was hard to miss as well with Sirius.

"Splendid, although I didn't meet another girl like you. They're all pinheads," he grumbled, flashing a smile at me as he led me toward one of the gates. "Looks like you've got all your supplies… I thought you said you were poor."

"I didn't say I was poor," I scowled. "My parents helped me out when I explained what happened. They're good, honest people."

"Ah, you're just like em then. Kojak calm down," I could feel the arcanine's breath on the back of my neck.

I turned and gave him a good scratch on the head, sating him for the moment. "It seems like someone else is more excited to see me," I jested as I pat him again.

"I am pleased to see you," Liam huffed. "Oh, you've got a new pokemon!" he swiftly averted the subject.

"Yes, Professor Birch gave me a Gible who had been rescued from betting rings, but I'd prefer not to release her here. She doesn't like crowds or small places."

"I was going to say cool, since Gible are rare, but a betting ring? That pokemon is going to be a nightmare to train."

"She is," I groaned. "I mean, she's gotten better. I haven't really gotten to handle her yet, but she listens to my orders in battle. It's just self control, since she was trained to kill instead of stop I had to somehow kick her out of the habit."

"Have her fight wild pokemon. That way if something _does_ happen, it's not someone's beloved pokemon. Use positive reinforcement, such as treats when she does well," Liam suggested.

"Thanks, I hadn't thought of that. I just had her sparring with Sirius, since he has the type advantage."

"I used the same tactic with this fellow here," he grabbed Kojak's mane and pulled him close, giving the doofy pokemon a noogie. He didn't even flinch and just kept slobbering.

"Kojak was aggressive before?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes, canine partners are trained since they're pups. It's very easy for them to develop over aggressive tactics. He also attacks people, but he was getting to rough. We have kill commands, but every attack shouldn't be an automatic kill. Very rarely do we want to kill the criminals we are chasing. So, I used that wild pokemon tactic to train him… and loads of treats."

To think that the slobbering beast behind me was a trained killer was certainly beyond what I could imagine. It was hard to imagine that Liam also was highly trained and probably knew how to fight due to how goofy and easygoing he was.

"So I'm assuming from the way you haven't told me to go away that I was cleared to go with you?"

"Yes, you were. One trip to Sinnoh, coming right up."

"You said we're taking a bush plane to Lilycove, right? Who's flying it, one of the locals?"

"Nah, I am."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, why is that so unbelievable?"

"Oh dear lord."


	5. Chapter 5

I never put Sirius in his poke'ball, which meant that without having him by my side I was a bit unnerved… For hours on end. I felt exposed and helpless, without him someone could easily hurt or take advantage of me. I had never felt this way before but in the few couple of weeks we had been together, I found I had become rather dependent on his company and preferred it to most humans.

Liam wasn't bad and I think he sensed my unease.

"Don't like flying?" he asked me.

"No, flying is fine. I miss Sirius," I told him bleakly.

We landed in Jubilife City after what seemed like a decade, but I'm told was about 15 hours. We had taken the red eye flight, which mean that I was at least half a day off my sleep schedule and my fretting about being separate from my pokemon had kept me awake the entire time.

When we finally got inside of the airport, which was huge, I released Sirius. He was pleased to see me, immediately returning to my side, relieving the anxiety I had endured. We picked up our bags at the luggage wheel and Liam rounded toward me with a smile.

"I suppose this is where we part and your journey begins. I have your number and I'll phone you if I need your assistance again, but I feel it'll be a while before we meet again," Liam told me.

"Thank you so much for your help," the air was brisker here, I could feel my unshaven legs prickling from the wind. I commenced going through my bag, finding the promised USB with the data I had documented. "Hopefully you can at least send this to apprehend the man who beat Sirius," I told him.

Liam graciously accepted it, sliding it into his pocket before he gave me a warm pat on the shoulder, squeezing it for a second. "You're going to do great, kid."

We parted ways, knowing that one day we would see each other again, but we had very diverse lives now. Liam had to go back to be an investigator and I had to get started on my pokemon journey, find more companions, and make a name for myself.

First stop was the pokemon center. I mean, it wasn't hard to find due to the enormous sign lifting up as high as the skyscrapers, but holy crap! This place was huge! It reminded me a bit of Goldenrod, but it was newer, more shiek and fashion forward. I almost had wished I had waited to buy my clothing here, but when I glimpsed the tags in the windows I was relieved I did not.

I felt as if it were bed time despite it being mid morning in Sinnoh. Which meant this entire day would be dedicated to putting myself back on the proper sleep schedule. I knew coffee would be my best friend and I'd have to find a way to entertain myself so that I'd stay awake.

We dropped by the pokemon center and checked my belongings in. I changed my clothing to a more suitable attire; a light brown high waisted woolen skirt which was modest in length, a pair of calf high hiking boots, and a thin grey woolen turtleneck sweater.

I took my leather satchel bag and we were off into the city to see what it had to offer.

We started with the first cafe we laid our eyes on. I immediately got a latte with extra espresso. They offered me some sort of poke'beans for my pokemon, I suppose they were rather intrigued by Sirius and claimed that the beans were imported from Alola.

Sirius certainly enjoyed a few of them well enough.

Through our walking we discovered that the city had a pokemon contest hall. We continued further into the city, picking up another latte by another cafe before we halted at the city center where a wonderful and enormous fountain spouted at the epicenter of Jubilife.

While the air was cooler than Hoenn, the weather was just as welcoming. The sun gleamed down upon us without making us sweat, the sky was blue and bird pokemon flew overhead. A lot of other locals had come to enjoy the day, whether they be office workers on break or kids who had just gotten out of school. Pokemon were a plenty too, playing with their trainers or some of the children who were moving about.

"I don't care what it takes! I need that bus here by tomorrow!" a girl snarled before violently smashing the button on her poke'nav to turn it off. A few others had stopped to stare, but her focus settled on me because she had chosen to sit in a bench adjacent to mine. "What are you looking at?" she snapped.

"Apparently nothing much," I retorted with a wrinkled nose, Sirius relaxing on my lap in the sun. I would have not normally been so pert with a stranger, but my lack of sleep and hop of caffeine made me moody.

The girl seemed like she might have been seventeen. Her hair was dyed in extravagant colors to looks like a dark oily mesh of color. It might have been pretty if she had decided to wash her hair that day.

"Don't you know who I am?" she asked, her shoulders rising as she puffed out her chest.

I stared blankly. "Nope."

" _Well_ , you hipster prude, I don't care who you think _you_ are, but no one talks to me like that," she gave me a steely glance, contemplating reaching for her poke'balls before her laughter rang out clear and sharp. "You know what, you're not even worth it. I bet you don't have a badge or anything. I've got other things to do," and just as soon as she had sat down the girl was gone in a dervish, whipping around to torment other people with her obnoxious voice.

"Thank Acereus," someone grumbled from a nearby bench. "If she isn't just the most stuck up brat I've met, I don't know who is."

A fellow with dark blonde hair sat nearby. His hair (unlike Liam's) was immaculately groomed, shorter on the sides and slightly longer on top so that it could be pushed back and pushed over, he had a thin beard that was closely shaven to his face, and honest brown eyes. He was dressed like a city man, jeans, a sweater over a white button down, and a fine dark blue coat.

"Who is she?" I asked.

"A famous pokemon trainer, though most of the reason she is famous though is because her parents are rich and they made a television show out of her journey. Kids know her because they watch her show, adults know her because her face is often plastered on billboards or other ads. She's got the temperament you'd expect of a self righteous little bigot. She doesn't deserve any of the titles she's gotten."

"Wonderful," I had a feeling I'd be seeing a lot more of that twerp if she was traveling around the country training and filming her show.

"You weren't tempted to battle her? I would have, given the chance, cameras or not," the man said.

"I didn't know how strong she was. I've only got two pokemon and while I trust Sirius… I'm still working with the other. I actually came to Sinnoh to collect my badges. Anyways, I've just got off a red eye flight, so I'd prefer not to waste the energy," I replied.

"Are you really?" he asked, arching a brow at me. I expected him to just be as bewildered as everyone else I met. "I came to Sinnoh a few weeks ago to earn my badges here. I've visited many other countries and defeated their gyms, now I've turned to Sinnoh. I still have to go to Alola, but perhaps we could travel together?"

"Uh, well, could I at least have your name first? Mine is Amelia Barnheart."

"Jack Langely," he stood up and headed over to my bench, first shaking my hand before he sat beside us. "It's refreshing to meet people your own age who are going through the same journey. So many are so young."

"It amazes me that they're able to do what they do at that age. I met a boy in Hoenn who schooled me on just about everything," I sighed.

"I have another friend who is also with me, he's not really a trainer, but he's going for fun," Jack intergected. "Sorry, I know it's a bit strange to ask out of the blue. Little kids don't think much of it, but when you ask an adult-"

"No that's fine," I smirked. "As long as you're as honest as you seem, some company would be nice. Where is your friend?"

"He's out shopping. I must warn you that he is… very different."

"Different?"

"Oh, Jacky-Poo!" a voice sing-songed from the other side of the fountain. A dapper man strolled over with arms covered in boutique shopping bags. He was even more well-dressed that Jack and had ridiculously large sunglasses on his face.

"Arthur you just missed Sabrina Watson," Jack told him.

The man made a disgusted noise, his head shaking slightly. "That little bitch? Good, I would have ripped her hair out if I saw her," he said before making the noise again. He had a very feminine voice, despite being a man. "Who's this poor darling you're bothering? Can't you see that she doesn't like you," he came over my way and slid the bags off of one arm onto the ground. "Hello, darling, my name is Arthur. Is Jack bothering you?"

I chuckled at Arthur's flamboyance, it was quite refreshing. "Oh yes," I started. "He even had the audacity to ask me to travel with him and some dashing stranger."

" _Audacity_ ," Arthur echoed before dramatically snapping his head to glare at Jack. " _AUDACITY_!" he said again, this time his voice pitching into a falsetto toward the end. He then calmly looked back at me. "So are you?"

"Perhaps I might be convinced."

"Oh look at you, I like you," he sat back on his haunches and glanced at Jack. "How did you spot this one?"

"She told Sabrina to shove off essentially. I figured anyone who had the gall to do that was of an interesting sort and worth talking to," Jack shrugged.

"Ooh, you did? Good, that little cunt said no when I offered to make her clothes. I would have put her on billboards, but instead she wears rave party gear made of cheap material. If she actually walked to each city for her gym badges those clothes wouldn't last through a day of wear and tear. Unlike mine."

"Oh are a fashion designer?" I asked.

"Oh yes, my dear. I design sophisticated, yet durable and resourceful clothing for pokemon trainers. My lines are tailored so that you can look sharp while battling. No more work out attire, top notch trainers should _look_ like they're top notch. Ace trainers just _adore_ my line and I do good business."

"I'm a photographer and that's amazing. Are you traveling to get more ideas?"

"Yes I am you smart cookie! I am going on this adventure with my friend Jack, who often is my male exhibitor for my line, to become inspired and also to see how well the clothes put up and if I should start working with more durable materials."

"What are all of those for?" I glanced at the bags.

"These? Just supplies for the trip, I had to go out and get what I needed for this. You know what, let's go get some frappes. I'm feeling a frappe, I'll treat," Arthur said before spontaneously changing the subject. "Come on now!" he swiftly collected his placed bags and perked right up again.

Jack and I stood up, Sirius hopping down so that he could pad between us.

"He's not too overbearing is he? I know he can be a lot to take in," Jack asked, almost a bit sheepishly.

Arthur walked ahead with steps that equaled about four of mine. He was a man on a mission.

"No, I quite like him… Are you two partners?"

"Partners?... Oh, no, it's not like that. We're good friends, but I am- I'm straight. What made you think that?"

"Sorry! No, just the way he spoke to you and called you 'Jacky-Poo'."

"He'll do that to you soon enough, he loves pet names."

"Frappes!" Arthur cried from ahead, signifying that we were falling too far behind.

"I think I will travel with you guys, it seems like it'll be fun," I decided.

Sirius mewed from beside me in agreement.

We arrived very swiftly at the cafe. I had not been to this one yet and so when we got to the counter Arthur was ordering and giving the poor barista an onslaught of details on how he wanted his frappe. She was actually taking notes because he was so specific.

"So darling, where are you from?" Arthur asked as the girl started on his order.

"Johto originally, but I just left Hoenn to come here."

"Oh why would you do that? Hoenn is so much prettier!"

"I had some… complications there and had to leave."

"Complications?" but he did not press it further, just shrugging instead. "When did you get here?"

"This morning actually, I've just been going around the city to keep myself awake. I was on the red eye."

"Red eye? Gurl you need two frappes then! Which one do you want?"

"One is more than enough. How about… mocha? That's fine."

"And an extra large mocha with two extra shots of espresso blended in," he told them returning barista who handed him his drink, a bit frazzled.

"Did you get any badges while you were Hoenn?" Jack questioned.

"No, I was actually working my regular job as a photographer. I came here to start the journey."

The barista returned with mine and one sip of the frozen coffee and I knew I'd be awake for a good while longer, if not jittery to the amount of caffeine in it. I had already consumed so much that day it was a wonder I hadn't miserably crashed yet. It was coming, probably just an hour after the frappe wore off.

We took some seats over by an electric fireplace and chatted for some time after. We agreed on meeting in front of the pokemon center in the morning before we would begin the trek to Oreburgh City.

Between the both of them I noticed that Arthur was very outspoken and would easily explain what was on his mind without hesitation. Jack was more reserved, letting Arthur bask in the limelight while he simply listened and observed. He would speak when he thought it was needed, but often just reflected on what was going on.

The sun was beginning to set when we finally parted ways. Sirius and I were glad to finally go back to the pokemon center where we both collapsed in bed, snuggled up with one another. I hadn't even bothered changing.

* * *

The night's sleep was the best I had gotten in a long time. It was probably due to extreme exhaustion, but I could say that now being in Sinnoh took a lot off my mind, especially about crossing paths with the man who beat Sirius.

We both woke up early since we fell asleep so abruptly. I spent some time researching the gym leader in Oreburgh. He was rock type and assigned as the first gym in the Sinnoh League. I weighed my options because I really only had two. Sirius was not a good match against rock, perhaps I could bank on my pokemon being better and faster, but if Sirius got hit with any of the moves there was no telling how much damage it would wrought.

On the other hand, Gible was a prime candidate to fight the rock pokemon since she had a type advantage being ground. She knew mudshot, which would be the move that brought us to victory. I knew I would just have to make use of Route 203 and its wild pokemon to hopefully shape her up better so that she could be utilized in Oreburgh.

I met Arthur and Jack just outside after making certain that I had what I needed.

I hadn't considered that my companions wouldn't be on bike and so when I saw them I didn't know what to do with my load until a Bouffalant sauntered into view with bags attached to him.

"Fold up your bike dear, Bruno will carry our things," Arthur told me.

I unclipped my hiking pack and folded my bike. Huffing it over toward the enormous beast I found myself looking up and trying to figure out how I was going to attach it.

"Here, let me help," Jack offered, hoisting my bag up as if it weighed little. He secured it with one of the ropes already attached to Bouffalant before taking my bike next and adding it too.

"Thanks-"

"Alright, ready to go now! Let's get going!" Arthur declared as he picked the path and started leading us out of the city. We stopped to grab some breakfast and feed our pokemon.

Bruno, the Bouffalant belonged to Arthur and he also had a Togekiss, a Mimikyu, and Empoleon; all of which had nicknames. Mimikyu or Minnie, later refused to go in her ball and bounced around on Bruno's back before finding a place where she was comfortable.

Jack mentioned that he started a new team with every new country he entered, except for one partner pokemon. A beautiful Dragalge was his partner. His new team included a Luxio and Staravia. He chose not to give any of his pokemon nicknames and called them by their species name.

We made our way out of the city and into a lush temperate forest. It was hard to believe that just right outside such an enormous city was a thriving ecosystem.

Jack and I ended up talking about dragon type pokemon, since he had noticed Gible at breakfast. I asked him for suggestions and he informed me that they were always difficult to handle and to train.

When we settled down around dusk I set off with Gible to train her against wild pokemon. There wasn't really much more than Starlies and Bidoofs, who were all considerably weaker than her. There were no incidents with the pokemon which was incredibly relieving. She was still a bit apprehensive about getting close to me or letting me touch her, but she listened to her orders in battle.

At that point I began contemplating a name for her.

Day two was much like the first, just a lot of walking. At noontime we came across a cave, which was labeled as a tunnel. Apparently the city was big on mining and this must have been a man made excavation to make traveling easier.

The tunnel was long and cool. Some pokemon had made it home, such as Zubats. Sirius was keen on shooting them down the moment one screeched in our general direction. He made a sort of game of it, leaving us to not worry about them at all since he constantly had his ears pricked.

It was dark when we exited the tunnel and despite knowing we were close to Oreburgh, we set up our gear just a stone's throw from the tunnel.

Tomorrow we would be in the city. Tomorrow I would get my first gym badge


	6. Chapter 6

A huge bridge led across a deep ravine, revealing a city that was built in the shadow of a mountain. Steam rolled from the heights of the steel buildings and the trees had long since been cut away. Oreburgh City looked huge from a distance, but as we drew nearer it was easy to see that not all of the city were actually homes. A lot of equipment and mining buildings littered the city. Behind the entire city was a mining facility and shafts that were labeled by wooden signs.

I don't know if I'd call it a stench, but the air was certainly not clean from all the coal emission. There was something about coming from a lush forest and into an industrial town that was off putting, but apparently they generated most of Sinnoh's electricity aside from wind farms, which was a much more sustainable and green energy.

However, the people in the city seemed adapted and you could tell many of the miners by their stained hands and sometimes faces. Other than the city had a museum and I found nothing about it interesting. I suppose I preferred the more rural and verdant areas to this dirty hovel, but the townsfolk seemed happy.

From the expressions on the faces of my companions, I could see they also didn't wish to spend much more than a day in Oreburgh.

"I'll take the woods to this," Arthur muttered as we walked the streets. He had been one to complain about the noise and how uncomfortable he was in his tent. His disdain was duly noted.

"Head straight for the gym then or do you need to hit the Pokemon Center first?" I asked Jack.

"I'll be fine, the sooner the better. Then we can head back toward the center," he told me.

We prowled toward the gym, ready for our endeavors. We arrived outside of an enormous cavern that did not look anything like a building.

Arthur parked Bruno, the Bouffalant disdainfully huffing as he found a comfortable spot to stand in with his load.

Inside there were ladders and terraces you could climb to the gym leader. However the straightest path seemed the easiest.

"There's two trainers here, how about we take one each?" Jack offered as we glanced down the path, he obviously seemed to think that not avoiding the trainers would be the easiest way to go.

"Sure," I shrugged before glancing down at Sirius. "Think you're up for one battle where you don't have the type advantage?" I asked him.

Sirius mewed, looking up at me with determined eyes. The first gym wouldn't be _that_ strong, especially since all the pokemon and trainers leading up to it were so weak. I didn't believe any of this was going to be a real challenge until we hit some of the later gyms where type advantage would really make a difference.

"Hey! … Hey!" a boy shouted from an alcove in one of the rock walls we walked between. "Whoever is challenger has to battle me!" he said definitively.

I gave Sirius a sidelong glance and he nodded his head. "Very well, show us what you've got," I said.

There wasn't much room, but Jack and Arthur cleared the space leaving about fifteen feet that was offered between the stone walls to battle.

"I choose you, Geodude!" the boy said before sending out his pokemon.

 _Perhaps we will have type advantage after all_ , I thought as Sirius took his place without order.

The boy barely waited. "Geodude use rollout!" His pokemon unearthed a chunk of the stone beneath him and hurled it in Sirius's direction.

"Sirius, ice shard," the rollout didn't move impeccably fast and Sirius was able to flash freeze an ice shard and hurl it at the weak rollout. The two collided and shattered into raining fractals of ice and rock. The boy seemed dazzled for a moment, but I didn't bother wasting time. A battle was as fast as you could end it. "Finish him with aurora beam."

I hoped he didn't have sturdy, but instead the Geodude took the brunt of the beam and then collapsed.

I bent down and welcomed Sirius back with hands through his fur. His tails were raised and he had a victorious gleam in his icy eyes.

"Good battle," the boy said as he came over, offering me pocket change for my victory.

"Thank you, you as well," I lied before graciously taking the money.

We continued in further.

The next trainer approached soon enough. He barely had enough time to ask who the challenger was because Jack stepped up with a poke'ball in hand.

The boy sent out a geodude and I realized that no matter what, unless Jack used his partner pokemon, he would be at a type disadvantage. But from what I had seen the pokemon were rather weak and well placed moves would win him the spat.

Jack chose Staravia and while I had met the relaxed bird pokemon, I had never seen him in battle. The moment the Staravia was released the Geodude balked under its glare, becoming more timid.

 _Intimidate?_ I wondered as the young boy glanced at his partner, wondering what was wrong.

Unlike my battle, the younger trainer did not order an attack first.

"Staravia, steel wing," he ordered, his voice very controlled and even. He had always seemed a bit softer when he spoke to either Arthur or I, but this version of Jack was a bit unnerving.

The pokemon's wings glistened metallic and it dove from out of the air and toward the Geodude like a missile. Using its wings it slashed at the Geodude with the super effective move. But the fellow clung onto dear life, meaning he had sturdy.

Jack waited patiently for the boy to decide rather than brutally finishing off his pokemon. "Geodude, rollout!"

It seemed rollout was really the only rock move Geodude knew at such a low level of skill and it was easy to evade.

"Double team," Jack replied calmly. "Follow with quick attack."

The attack wouldn't be effective, but Geodude was just clinging to consciousness.

Staravia's form molted and it appeared as if there were several of him. The rollout hit the wrong one and suddenly with a flash the Staravia was on top of Geodude, knocking him back and out.

"Geodude!" the boy cried before a red light consumed him and he had a second poke'ball in hand. "C'mon Onix, I know we've got this."

Sadly, his optimism was misplaced. Our pokemon were a bit overleveled for this area, I was realizing, and our tactics also were more developed. Out of courtesy Jack waited patiently. I hoped that the gym leader would be different.

Onix came down harder than Geodude to the same tactic that Jack had used for Geodude. The boy's lack of experience or observation led him to falling for the same trick and not ordering evasive maneuvers or combatives, since Onix was so huge.

Jack was victorious, but he went over to the boy who seemed down and muttered something to him. The boy nodded and brightened a little before Jack returned to join Arthur and I.

"What did you say to him?" I asked.

"I just gave him some advice. It's a bit intimidating when you're so easily beaten."

We came up upon the field for battle which was dirt with several boulders mapped out in random locations that could be use for strategic advantage if the trainer knew how to use them.

From a door on the opposite side of the field a man came walking out, wiping off his hands with a blackened rag, as if he just came from the mines.

The redhead smiled graciously at them. "I heard I have 2 challengers today, I wasn't exactly expecting people my own age. This should be interesting," he mused before giving a bashful smile. "My name is Roark and I am the gym leader here in Oreburgh. Who would like to try and earn their badge first?"

"Ladies first," Jack smirked.

Scowling at him I stepped forward. "I will," I offered, coming under the full scrutiny of the gym leader. He seemed so kind, but from behind his glasses I could have sworn I saw his eyes were sharp and more calculating than he let on.

He pushed them up and I could no longer see the look in his eyes and only the sheepish smile on his face. "Good! Let us begin."

We took our spots on opposing sides of the field. I reached for Gible's luxury ball and contemplated whether it would be a wise move. She was strong, there was no doubt about it, she took orders like a soldier did from their officer, but I worried if she would go too far. We had trained and she had done well, but I was still worried.

Roark released a Geodude and I finally made my decision, releasing Gible.

She glanced back at me as if she were astounded to be in a true battle. I gave her a level look, praying that she would understand what this meant and would not go into a frenzy.

"A Gible? What an interesting choice, this is going to be fun," Roark commented from the opposite side of the field.

I hadn't even noticed, but a referee had materialized to judge the battle.

"Let the battle begin," even our pokemon's health bars had materialized on a side wall.

"Geodude seismic toss," Roark ordered.

"Quickly, when he gets close use mud shot and blind him!" I said swiftly after.

Geodude sped up to latch onto Gible, but she hacked and spat a sloppy mess all over the Geodude's face causing his accuracy to drop and allow Gible to circle around him. The meter on the wall indicated super effective, but Geodude's health only dropped by a quarter. How strong was he?!

Geodude vigorously wiped his eyes off.

"Geodude, Rollout!"

"Get behind one of the boulders!"

Gible was so close that she wasn't able to get all of her body behind the nearest boulder in time. The first rollout hit one of her feet and caused her to tumbled over and behind the cover. It did not hurt her much at all, seeing that it wasn't very effective, but Geodude rounded, ready to shoot the next volley.

Gible stumbled to her feet just as the second rollout hit her, slightly harder, but her health was still quite high. Geodude was getting cl0ser in hopes to cause the proximity of the rollout blows to cause more damage.

This also meant that Gible's attacks had a better chance of hitting. "Gible, Sand Tomb!" a torrent of sand left Gible's mouth and swirled around Geodude. It brought him down slightly above half, but the small sandstorm raged and every so often would take away ticks of Geodude's health.

Gible, using her speed, dashed away from Geodude to put some distance between them. She still easily had 85% of her health meter while Geodude was at 60%.

"Come on, Amelia, you've got this!" Arthur cheered from the sideline.

"Dragon rage!" it wasn't super effective and it did not need to be. With our pokemon all at lower levels this attack would take away a chunk no matter what.

Gible dashed forward and despite Roark's order to use, "Hidden Power!" The attack fell flat as Gible's frame was elicited by a roaring violet flame before seething off of her and smacking into Geodude.

The meter plunged at the attack and Gible also sustained damage from the hidden power.

The meters showed as Geodude: 10% and Gible 70%.

"Gible you've got this!" I told her as she circled Geodude who appeared weary from the attacks.

A final mudshot finished off Roark's Geodude.

"Very well done, but we're not finished here," Roark told us as Gible waddled back toward me. "Cranidos!"

A pokemon about the same size as Gible was released, eager and ready to battle. Gible just gave it a despairing look before turning back around to fight this one as well. Perhaps it was arrogance from her previously won battle that got the better of both of us when we looked at the Cranidos.

"Gible, mudshot."

"Cranidos, Zen headbutt."

The Cranidos began charging at an uncanny speed at which I realized that this pokemon might actually be faster than Gible. Her mudshot hit him, but because his head was down for the headbutt, it didn't inflict much damage or blind him.

The zen headbutt sent Gible flying back and because it wasn't a weakened move, took a chunk of her health away. Gible flinched and wasn't able to make it to her feet before the next attack.

"Flamethrower!"

The attack roasted Gible who hadn't managed to get up. It didn't hurt her too much, but her health had sailed from the steady 70% to 40% now. Finally, she stumbled to her feet and let out a vigourous roar of anger.

"Gible, dragon rage!"

She dashed forward and was able to his Cranidos. His health remained at 60%. Although, he did take damage from Gible's rough skin as well.

Again he hit her with a hard headbutt sending her flying back. Despite our type advantage the Cranidos was just too strong.

I thought about withdrawing her, trying Sirius against the Cranidos, but worried about him becoming too injured.

Gible stood up, battered, but willing to continue.

"Gible, you don't have to continue. Sirius can finish," I told her.

But the pokemon did not dare look back. Instead she focused her beady eyes on the Cranidos and with another roar of defiance she lit up brilliantly. It wasn't on any order I had given her and I worried that she was going to go too far, but when I realized what was happening it had almost already happened.

Standing in front of me was no longer Gible, but a Gabite.

Gabite glowered at the Cranidos, as if daring him to come any closer.

I snatched my poke'dex out and listened, " _Gabite the Cave Pokemon; In rare cases, it molts and sheds its scales. Medicine containing its scales as an ingredient will make a weary body feel invigorated. Shiny objects are its passion. It can be found in its cave, scarcely moving, its gaze fixed on the jewels it's amassed or Carbink it has caught. New moves include, dig and iron head._ "

I knew of Garchomp's speed and now that Gabite had evolved, her speed would have doubled as a Gabite.

"Cranidos, finish this with another zen headbutt," Roark ordered.

"Gabil-Gabite, use dig!"

Gabite was swifter and plunged into the earthen battle field. A small portion of her fin was visible through the dirt and Cranidos missed his attack. Gabite tracked his movements through the tremors above her and suddenly burst from the ground, smacking into Cranidos. Because she was so much larger and stronger the attack hit incredibly hard, knocking Cranidos out.

"And the battle goes to the challenger!" the referee cried.

I was so astounded and sweaty from nerves that I blinked in surprise a few times. Gabite hurried over to my side, roaring in satisfaction at what she had done. She was so bright in mood that she rubbed her face against mine, chafing it with her rough skin.

"Ouch! Careful there, Sunshine, that hurts!" I cried, my voice cracking as a smile broke out on my face. All that training and working with her had really paid off.

Gabite cooed, as if she liked the name. "Really? Sunshine? I was just- Uhg, fine, if you like it then I like it too. Right Sirius?"

Sirius, whom watched the entire battle, beamed at his companion who was now much larger than he. He bounced on his heels and ran around Sunshine's feet.

Roark crossed the field, a kind smile on his face, his eyes softened.

"Congratulations. You truly do deserve this badge," he showed me a shiny little pin that looked like a boulder and poke'ball combined or perhaps even Roark's helmet. "This is the Coal Badge, it gives you warrant to use the HM Rocksmash in the wild. I do have to say that your pokemon trust you unwittingly. That is the sign of a good trainer who cares a lot about the bond between pokemon and human. I think I'd like to battle you again with my real team once you've earned all your badges."

"T-thank you, Roark. It was an honor to battle you," I stammered, astounded at how good sported the gym leader was. I had never met anyone in the pokemon contests like this, they always spat venom at one another, but Roark proved once again that pokemon trainers were kind and welcoming people.

I took the offered badge and grinned at Arthur and Jack, holding it up.

"I didn't doubt you for a second, darling," Arthur waved dismissively.

"Will the next challenger come up?"

* * *

Jack earned his badge as expected. We each parted for a bit to collect what resources we would need to continue onwards. I received a phone call.

"Hello? Oh! Liam?" his face materialized on the poke'nav and he didn't appear as chipper as usual.

"Hey Amelia, just calling to check up on you and see how you're doing," he told me.

"Good! Look where I am!" I spun the poke'nav around so that he could see the portion of Oreburgh City I was in. I turned it back toward my face. "I just got my first badge and Gible evolved in Gabite."

"Wow! Congratulations then. You made it there with no problem?"

"Yeah, I'm traveling with another trainer and his companion."

"Good safety is in numbers."

"Why, what's up with you?"

Liam sighed, his broad shoulders sagging a bit. "Just been busy since returning to work. There's been some occurrences of pokemon theft and perhaps even hints of Team Galactic returning to Sinnoh. You should be safe if you have some friends with you, but you've got two rare pokemon, so you may become a target."

"Is that why you're checking up on me?"

"Yes, some trainers haven't been that fortunate and they put up too much of a fight. There have been some recorded murders, but we haven't been able to track down viable suspects."

"Oh jeez, that sounds pretty bad. I appreciate the call then, I'll have to left my friends know too so they can keep an eye out for suspicious activity."

"If you see anything you think is worth warrant, take a picture and just send me the files. I'll text you my work email."

"Will do, Liam. Hopefully I won't though."

"For your sake, I hope so too. Well, I've got to go, but I'm glad to hear you're doing well. Keep me updated!"

"Certainly, bye Liam."


	7. Chapter 7

Finally after getting out of Oreburgh we all were a bit more relaxed. The smell and acrid air was gone and we were headed back west to Jubilife so we could turn north and head toward Floaroma and then our next badge. We expected the journey to take just short of a fortnight to make it all the way to the next gym.

We passed the outskirts of Jubilife, not wanting to be bogged down by Arthur's distraction with the city before continuing to route 204. The route was a bit of a hike, always seeming to go uphill. We had to go through a cave to get to the next terrace above us before continuing up the route.

Arthur often huffed and puffed about the terrible trek, despite the forest being quite welcoming and safe. He mentioned spending an entire month in Oreburgh than traversing the constant incline. We met a few trainers along the way who were heading in varying directions or simply camping out for a while to see what pokemon they could lure out and capture.

All in all, it took us four days to make it to Floaroma Town, which was a blessed sight.

The town was absolutely beautiful, perched above in a glade where many flowers grew. The aroma, for which the town was named after, wafted down part of route 204 and had alerted us that we were near. A soft wind always seemed to churn, tousling my long hair and constantly battering us with the fragrance of all of the lovely flowers.

I found myself so enamoured with the rural town that I was taking more pictures than I had this entire journey so far. Now that we were higher in elevation we could see green mountains rolling in the distance.

The houses were adorable too. They were all cottage style, roofs and shingling all meant to be similar so that a common theme went throughout the town. It reminded me of a charming medieval town with kind townsfolk.

We split up, mostly because I kept wandering off to look at things.

Sirius and I ended up finding the path to the Floaroma Meadow which was nothing but flowers. We were carefully not to be reckless and damage the precious flowers, but both of us were so elated that we ran through the trodden paths and exclaimed at the flowers we found that we had never seen before. I don't believe I had ever been so childish in my adulthood, but when it was just Sirius and I… It was like I _was_ a child again and he thought no different of me.

Eventually, we settled down in a patch of Columbines, watching as Combee pollinated the flowers and I could have sworn that I saw some Flabébé milling around, mimicking the hue of the flowers they were adjacent to.

"Amelia… Amelia…"

I blinked my eyes open and noticed that the sun had nearly set all the way by now. Jack was crouching over me, Staravia at his back, glowering.

"Oh dear, I didn't mean to fall asleep."

Jack put a hand behind my back and helped me to my feet. "That's fine, it might not have been you actually. I've heard from some of the keepers in the town that this area sometimes has wild pokemon that release spores that cause others to become sleepy."

Sirius shook his fur, blinking his eyes blearily.

"I hope you weren't searching for too long," I said.

"Staravia was able to help me, but the field is quite large and the flowers hid you well."

"Sorry," I apologized, kicking the dirt.

"It's fine, I'm just glad we found you," we started back toward Floaroma. "I didn't take you much for a flower-type girl."

I snorted. "What _did_ you take me for, then?"

"I don't know, I suppose I just expected you to be a little more of a tomboy. You certainly know how to handle yourself out in the wild, especially with fishing. I don't think I've seen any male or female who can fish half as well as you."

"My father is a fisherman, so I grew up fishing off his boat in Johto. Freshwater pokemon are so much easier than salt water. But it's not so much that I like flowers, which I do, but it's more the picture it paints. I like to admire things that are beautiful, whether they be pokemon, people, or scenes in nature. I especially love nature. I think seeing Floaroma just overwhelmed me with how perfect it is," I explained. "My home town was always dark and stormy, overcast with grey and rain. But somehow I always found the contrast of it so beautiful."

"You don't talk much about yourself, so it's hard to know what's going on up there," Jack said tapping my head. "I knew you were a photographer, you're always taking pictures, but I had no idea that's what it meant to you."

"Yes well, I don't like to talk about myself. It feels like bragging and I hate people who brag, so I'd prefer not to be a hypocrite."

"Well, do you mind if I _request_ to know more about you. We've already been traveling together for some time, it wouldn't hurt to know more about each other. I found a local shop where they make tea out of the various plants they grow here if you want to try it."

"Sure, I don't see why not."

By the time we made it to the shop the iron street lamps had come on. I didn't know what Arthur was up to, but I was having a good time chatting with Jack.

The shop had a wide assortment of teas that could be steeped and made. I found myself eying one that had berries and fragrant flower leaves with a mixture of local honey. I was about to pay for my drink when Jack insisted on treating since it had been his idea.

Through our conversation I learned that Jack was from Kanto and that he had gotten Dragalge was when he went on a family trip to Hoenn and went scuba diving. He had caught Dragalge as a Skrelp and the two had been inseparable ever since.

He mentioned his time in the modeling career and working with Arthur. They had crossed paths in Hoenn when Jack had been earning his badges. Supposedly, Arthur was enamoured with Jack and actually wanted a relationship. Unfortunately for Arthur, Jack was not gay, but was not turned away by Arthur's infatuation with him.

They worked together, Jack being the headline male model for his line. Being an ace trainer himself, his contacts with his fellow aces set up Arthur's line up for success. He mentioned that he believed that Arthur's love for him had been superficial and that Arthur had been in love with his appearance and skill rather than who he was. It didn't seem to matter now, because they were best friends and still worked closely together.

He recounted many of his journeys, astounding me by his skill. He mentioned that he preferred to start a new team each time he went to a new country. He said that all of his other friends went to live with his parents at a pokemon refuge that they owned in Kanto.

I then was ushered into sharing more about myself.

I began with growing up in Cianwood City, which was quite rural and secluded from much of the rest of the continent, especially due to the terrible whirlpools. My father would go around and off toward the ocean rather than the Whirl Islands where many ships were lost to rocks and unpredictable waters.

I noted my adoration of the ocean and all of its wildlife due to growing up in such a rich area. My parents had always been very supportive, though they were not rich and scraped by most of the time. It was hard for my mothers sometimes since my father would be away for weeks at a time on his fishing trips.

My father had wanted me to become a pokemon trainer, but I opted to become a pokemon photographer. My intentions had been to be a diver that would explore and find new pokemon or just take pictures that would be features in scientific digests. Once I got into school it became another story. I realized how much more working in pokemon contest halls would offer and the prospect of paying off my student debts that quickly sucked me in.

I decided it was about time that I revealed how I truly got set on the track to Jack and so I did. I told him about my brief work in the industry and how Sirius was an abused pokemon that I rescued. I mentioned my fleeing from Hoenn to Sinnoh due to the help of an unlikely friend and my intentions.

Jack was so intent on listening that despite the calming atmosphere of the shop, he was incredibly intense.

Once I finished he sat back in his seat, contemplating my words. I feared he would think differently of me, perhaps even down for the actions I had taken.

"You know… I haven't met a lot of people like you, but I knew from when I met you that you had something… A spark. Not everyone has it, but you can train and work as hard as you can to be as skilled as those who naturally have it. Your pokemon trust you, despite what humans have done to them both. The bonds that you have even though you haven't been together for too long are incredible.

"Not many ace trainers have this spark, which is why we train so hard. But you've got it Amelia and I'll do everything I can to help you on your journey. You've set yourself to a selfless task, which cannot be said of many others. I know Arthur will agree with me if you allow me to share what you've told me with him."

I shifted a bit uncomfortably, I didn't feel as kind as he claimed. I had let so many pokemon before Sirius go by, constantly bullied and beaten into obedience. His words cut through me like a knife, but the way he looked at me, the admiration in his eyes. It was as if I was already this legendary figure who had disassembled pokemon contests and the abuse.

"You can," I said in a small voice. "But it's not going to be just me then and I'd prefer it that way. This journey was daunting in the beginning, being all by myself, but with you and Arthur… I can rest a little easier.

"But… I am no super hero, so please stop looking at me like that."

"You are to Sirius… You are to Sunshine," he reminded me with a warm smile before he leaned back in his seat.

We returned to the pokemon center where Arthur was fussing over his Mimikyu. I was too bashful to reiterate what I had told Jack due to his reaction and so he sat Arthur down and recounted my time in Hoenn.

I watched as the man's face contorted, he never was one to hide his emotions.

When Jack finished Arthur flung himself at me, wrapping long arms in a sweeping embrace. "Oh my sweet darling, I knew there was more to you, but I could have never guessed this much. That's it then, you're going to be my new face."

"Pardon?"

"My new face for my female pokemon trainer line. You know, the one I offered to Sabrina the Brat and she turned it down? I've just been using assorted models since, but you're going to be my new face. This will get you out there more, people will begin recognizing you."

"I am thankful, but me, a model? I'm barely five foot and… well I don't want you to just give me the spot because of what I'm trying to do."

"Now hush! I've been scouting out potential females for a while now. I was already contemplating you, but this has finally pushed me over the line. When we get to Hearthome you will debut my new line. _And_ you'll get free clothes. I don't give a rattata's ass about your height. You've got the sweetest little doll face and a fine figure."

I shut my mouth, but it felt as if I didn't really deserve the role. Certainly, more people would recognize me and that's what I wanted, but I was a photographer not a model. How I was going to get over my nerves and discomfort for such things was beyond me.

Arthur pardoned himself so he could go work on his designs in his notepad.

"He means the best," Jack told me.

"I know," I sighed.

* * *

The next day Jack and I explored the nearby areas since we heard from the locals that there were hidden eggs. I went off and found the Valley Windworks. Jack had given me his Poke'Radar to go in search of less common pokemon in the area. I hunted around a bit and found a mareep. Nostalgia hit me and I couldn't resist capturing it because it was a native pokemon of Johto.

When I worked my way back to Floaroma, Jack had also come back saying he had found a large building across a river. Dragalge ended up taking us across it and we were able to explore the grass. The wild pokemon were much stronger than those in the other surrounding areas.

We got to the enormous building, realizing it was Fuego Ironworks, a building where the iron ore from Mt. Coronet was sent for curing and manufacturing. It seemed that no one was smelting that day, but the front door was wide open and so we wandered in.

An older man was sitting at the front smoking a cigar. He opened his eyes, surprised to see anyone. "Hullo there," he greeted.

"Oh, sorry are we intruding?" Jack asked politely.

"No not at all, today is sunday and the workers have the day off. I don't get to see many trainers around these parts very often, what brings you?" he questioned.

"Just passing through," I replied.

"My name is and this is my company," he then stood up. "Would you like a tour?"

Jack and I exchanged glances before shrugging. We had nothing better to do and a tour would be safer than just aimlessly exploring. Mr. Fuego showed us the ironworks and the many machines and hearths that were used to turn the ore into workable metal. At the end of his tour he brought us to what looked like his office.

"I don't get many young guests here very often and so I'd like to give you these," he fished in his desk and pulled out two stones. "Usually I just give fire stones away, but I see that this one would suit you more young lady."

One stone flickered like the flames of a fire and the other was cool and appeared as if a winter scene had been trapped within.

While firestones were rare I wasn't even certain you could get an ice stone anywhere else except for Alola. Perhaps I was wrong.

"Wow, thank you," I gasped as I took the ice stone and looked to Sirius. Was he ready to evolve? It was a big decision that I wasn't sure I was ready to make.

Sirius chirped from beside me, sensing that I had the stone.

 _He needs more time, not just yet,_ I thought before I slipped it into my bag.

We thanked Mr. Fuego and returned to Floaroma for another evening. The next day we would set off into Eterna Forest and from what we had heard, it was a dark and gloomy forest that was difficult to traverse due to persistent pokemon, odd cultists, and the sheer girth of the woods. We made certain to stock up on food and water if we got lost longer than planned.

I recalled the words of someone about Eterna Forest; " _The place where time stands still."_


	8. Chapter 8

The forest loomed ahead of us, glaring down upon us. With all the rumors we had hear about this place it was hard not to be nervous about going in. We would be stuck in this locations for days and even longer if we got lost.

The moment we stepped underneath the canopy of the tall, solemn trees the temperature dropped and a sudden chill swept through all of us.

"Hullo?" someone said just as we had started walking into the woods.

A fellow revealed himself, a hiking pack on his back and a sheepish expression on his face. His hair was a bit grown out and he had a thin beard, not due to careful grooming, but due to the inability to grow a full beard.

"Hi there, are you looking for a battle?" I asked.

"No, actually I was looking for a group to travel with. This place gives me the creeps and I've already walked in circles for a day. So I returned to the entrance in hopes of finding a larger group," he replied with an embarrassed smile as he scratched his head.

"Oh yeah, I think I saw you in Floaroma," Arthur recalled.

"I don't see why you can't accompany us out of the forest," Jack shrugged. "What's your name? Mine is Jack, Arthur is the other fellow, and Amelia the lady."

"Kody," he responded. "Are you all trainers?"

"Just Jack and I, Arthur is a friend of ours who is traveling for research purposes," I said.

"Cool, I'm not much of a trainer. I just have one pokemon to get me through dangerous areas, but I'm not trying to earn badges or anything like that."

"Perhaps it is safer for you to come with us. There's been rumors of cultists and other odd people in these parts," Jack told him.

"Eesh, cultists? Hopefully they're the friendly type," I couldn't tell if he was joking.

Kody joined us, he seemed like a very relaxed type of guy, smiling lazily at anyone who spoke with him. I felt as if he was constantly sneaking glances at me, but I couldn't say because every time I looked back he turned his head away.

The first day in and we didn't see anything out of the ordinary. We crossed a few bug catching trainers, but other than that we just got a few directions from them and continued forward. We set up camp when the sun started setting over the mountains. The trees above us blotted out light so much that the moment the sun was no longer overhead it seemed like night time.

Kody insisted on sleeping by the fireside, which I would have offered the extra space in my tent seeing that it was technically a 4 person tent, but he weirded me out a bit and so I just reserved the extra space for all my pokemon.

During the night the fire was kept high. I heard the voices of my companions outside at sometime in the evening after we had all 'retired'. I couldn't make out what it was partially due to being half asleep and also because the crackling of the fire.

I awoke again to Sirius growling. I sat up, a shadow of a figure illuminated by the fire just outside of my tent. They were awfully close and I couldn't tell which man it was. Sirius was obviously displeased by this disturbance and let out a low snarl, baring his teeth.

I wrapped my arm around him and pulled him close, but his body continued to reverberate with a deep resounding growl.

I couldn't even tell it was morning the next day because of how dark it was still. The scent of freshly cooked breakfast stirred me along with, "Wake up bitches, I made breakfast!" from a cheerful Arthur.

I sported only my evening wear which was a tank top and yoga pants. My pokemon made it so warm in the tent that it was like having personal heaters on top of my sleeping bag.

"Girl you need to brush your hair," Arthur scowled as I came out and accepted my plate.

"You need to cut yours," I quipped.

Arthur gasped. "Bitch," but there was a small smirk tucked on his face as Jack came out fully dressed. Kody was already out there seeing he slept under the canopy.

While we were eating I groggily glanced at Jack. "Did you need something last night?" I yawned.

"Sorry?"

"Were you outside my tent last night? Sirius began growling at some unholy hour."

"No, I didn't get up at all last night," he told me, brows furrowing.

The topic was left alone and I wondered if I had just dreamed the scene up or if my eyes had been playing tricks on me.

We packed up and continued without incident for another 2 days.

It was on our 4th day in the depths of the forest that a thick mist made it difficult to see more than 10 feet in front of us. We considered waiting the mist out, but were unnerved by how deep we were in the forest. We didn't know what was lurking around us and for the most part, it didn't feel good.

What happened next was beyond me. I bent down to tie my boot and when I stood back up I was completely alone. I figured everyone else was only a little bit ahead and jogged down the path hoping to catch up.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice echoing in the forest. I couldn't hear Bruno's soft crunches or Arthur's constant bickering.

After a few more seconds of jogging down the path I began to become more panicked. "Hello? Sirius? Jack?"

No answer.

I saw a shadow in the distance, it looked like a person.

I charged forward, never having been so frightened by the unknown in my life. I barreled into the figure, thinking it was Jack.

"Jack I was so wor- Oh, Kody?" I glanced up at the hiker who appeared just as frazzled as me.

"Amelia, are you alright?"

"Yeah, are the others not too far? I got separated due to the fog."

"Uhhhh…." he drawled. "I was looking at a bug nest and when I turned back they were gone."

"Great…" I muttered. The only thing we could do was continue on and hope that they would eventually realize that we weren't there.

Kody and I continued down the path. I felt exposed without Sirius by my side and wondered how we had even gotten separated, we never split up. I worried that he had gotten lost and wasn't even with the main group.

"So how long have you been with them?" Kody asked as we walked.

"About a month."

"And you weren't worried about them at all?"

"No, they are good people," I then scowled after I understood what he asked. "If they wanted to steal my things and pokemon they could have done it from the beginning. Arthur has pokemon that are much stronger than mine."

"I think the path leads this way," Kody said as we took a turn. I was simmering a bit after his last comment accusing Arthur and Jack of being thieves. "I saw you all in Floaroma," he started slowly. "You and Jack aren't together are you?"

"No, we're just good friends," I said.

Kody continued with whatever tangent he was going on. I noticed he rambled often and Arthur was the only one who really cared to listen. "I saw you when you got there and thought 'Wow, that's gotta be one of the most beautiful girls I've ever seen.' You had an amazing and rare pokemon with you and the most dazzling blue eyes."

I felt my skin prickle in discomfort. I didn't speak and nor did Kody leave me time to.

"I realized you were a trainer… I was only stopping in Floaroma to grab some supplies before I came back, but I knew you'd come this way. But the guys you traveled with seemed over protective, I mean, I can see why, you're a perfect little doll. Someone could just snatch you right up if they knew how to."

My stomach churned and I felt my chest tighten. His words sounded like they belonged to a stalker. I hadn't even noticed him before and yet he claimed to have watched me? My fingers reached to my belt, my hand tightening around Sunshine's luxury ball. Sirius might not have been here but I knew she would defend me tooth and claw.

"So I wanted to bring you to meet the others, so they could also admire your perfection. Snow white skin, shell colored lips, ceruleans eyes like the depths of the ocean, long tangled chestnut hair-"

"Others?" I muttered just as I was about to release Gabite. But before I could something came down heavy against the back of my head sending me careening forward and into the arms of Kody.

"You didn't have to hit her so hard you idiot," he snarled as my vision began to fade.

* * *

I didn't realize that Amelia was missing until Sirius padded up beside me, whimpering uncontrollably. His head was on a swivel and he constantly glanced around.

"Arthur, where is Amelia?" I asked.

Arthur blinked the weariness from his eyes and glanced around. His brows then pulled together and he frowned. "That weirdo is missing too."

Panic began to slowly seep into my chest. Perhaps she didn't wander far and the mist just obscured her… but the fact that Sirius was here with us and not here was extremely perturbing. He never left her side.

"Where could she have gone?" I muttered before cupping my hands over my mouth. "Amelia? … Amelia?" I called out, but my voice only echoed and nothing answered.

"I fucking hate this forest, Arceus damn it!" Arthur cursed.

"What do we do? She could literally be anywhere."

"Uh, your Luxray… he can see through objects or some shit. You could use him," Arthur thought up.

I scrambled for his poke'ball and released Luxray. The pokemon snuffed before acknowledging Sirius.

"Luxray I need you to try and look for other people. Not pokemon, people. Amelia is missing."

Luxray gave a stout nod before padding forward, Sirius close on his heels. His eyes began to glow a bright gold. He scanned through the mist for a few minutes, walking around to get various angles. Eventually, he found something worth investigating and jerked his head in the direction he wanted to go.

We moved off the dirt trodden road and into the forest. Luxray kept ahead of us, but his eyes gleamed so brightly that he lit up the mist around him.

Sirius began yipping when he found something. Pawing at it furiously. When we grew closer to inspect it I noticed that it was Amelia's satchel bag.

Sirius was so furious in his actions that he snapped the buckle open and shoved his face right in. I didn't know what he was doing until he pulled out the ice stone, holding it in his jaws. Before I could snatch it from him a white light blinded all of us. A few moments later and a beautiful, ghost like pokemon stood in front of us.

Sirius had evolved himself into Alolan ninetales by choice. His tails whisped behind him, moved by a wind and the fur around his ears also seemed as if invisible hands were playing with them. Unlike a normal ninetales, his nine tails seemed to be conjoined and molded into one.

I picked up Amelia's bag and glanced at Sirius who had a look of pure determination in his eyes. He sniffed the bag once again and then bolted into the mist, his white fur making him disappear sooner than any other pokemon would have.

"Sirius!" I called, but in vain. "Luxray follow him, I want to know where he is going."

Luxray kept trailing Sirius. My mind started to get the better of me. If only I had been paying more attention she wouldn't have slipped behind. And why was her bag separated from her? And where was Kody? Had the same ill fate befallen him as well?

The path ahead of us became illuminated by torches. We slowed our pace because we were astounded by the sight we had come across. There seemed to be a small reclusive village within the woods.

 _The Cultists?_ I wondered, heart thudding in my chest.

I only knew that there were possibly cultists. I had no idea what they stood for or what they wanted.

"Intruders!" someone cried before a bell was struck over and over again.

I reached for Dragalge's poke'ball, but Arthur grabbed my arm.

"Leave these bastards to me, go find Amelia," he said, his voice much deeper than usual, losing all of its playfulness.

I sprinted past them, Luxray flanking me so that we could make it through without being halted. Arthur stepped forward, poke'balls between fingers as he readied himself for battle.

Luxray continued, there were only so many buildings, but what we saw were disturbing effigies of native pokemon that had been dismembered and hung up in strange, occult fashions. My worry for what they might have done to Amelia only increased tenfold.

Soon enough we came to an area that was frozen entirely. Some of the torches had been frozen so swiftly that the flame was trapped within them in a statis. This was Sirius's work.

We came to a house that the door had been blown in. I nearly slipped up the stairs, but managed to grab the frame before continuing in.

Sirius stood opposing a man who held a sagging person, his teeth bared so much that all his gums were visible. The ninetales resonated with a deep, unearthly growling.

"Step back, I swear, I'll do it," the man threatened. By his voice I realized that it was Kody. His hair was disheveled and his shoulder was bleeding from a deep bite wound. The skin had turned slightly black… Necrosis? _No_ , frostbite.

Sirius's chin was stained with blood.

Kody held a knife to Amelia who was unconscious. There was blood on her brow, but whether or not it was hers I could not say.

I knew if I did not intervene, Sirius would kill Kody.

"Kody…" I said calmly. "Just let Amelia go. He will kill you if you don't, but if you let her go and let me take her, we'll leave."

"No!" Kody cried, his hand trembling as he held the knife closer. "She's the one, she's meant to be our queen. I know it, I know it," he began muttering mad things beneath his breath.

Sirius snarled and let out a resonate bark at Kody.

"If I can't have her, no one can. Not you, not anyone. She's too perfect to waste on people like you. We will be reincarnated and we can try again my love-"

Kody raised the knife but before he could plunge it into Amelia his hand froze.

My breath caught in my throat, but no matter how much Kody tried he could not move. I glanced at Sirius whose fur was standing on end, whipping around as his eyes glowed with a ghostly violet hue. The blade slowly turned and moved toward Kody. The man frustrated cries betrayed his fear.

"Sirius…" I breathed, realizing what he was going to do. "Sirius!" I snapped.

Sirius glanced back at me and then to Kody. The knife was suddenly flung from his hands and the man was send reeling back and into the wall with enough force to break bones. Kody collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

Amelia dropped to the ground and both Sirius and I rushed to her side.

I lifted her up, cradling her small frame in my arms. This was never how I imagined holding her. I had wanted it to be different.

Sirius licked the blood from her forehead, whining as he nudged at his owner.

"She's alive," I assured him, but her being unconscious did worry me.

I searched for a wound and saw that she had a very large bump on the top of her head. Someone had hit her with a blunted object.

Sirius leaned forward and breathed gently. His frigid breath froze the blood on the surface and staunched the bleeding. I pushed her hair back and glanced back as I heard thudding up the stairs into the hut.

Arthur trundled up, a little breathless, but victorious.

"Is she ok? Is she- _Oh_."

"She's alive, but she got hit on the head. Her skull isn't cracked, but she probably has a concussion. We need to get her to Eterna City as swiftly as possible."

Arthur grew quiet and then fished deep into his pocket pulling out a dream ball that he clutched closely. "Glad I took you this time..." he muttered.

He released the pokemon and standing between us was a Xatu.

"Everyone come out here, quickly. We don't want to be here when any of them wake up."

I carried Amelia out, Sirius pressing close to me. Once we had all gathered, Arthur glanced over at Xatu.

"Sorry there's so many of us, friend, but we need to get to the nearest city.

Xatu regarded all of us with blank eyes. It then began glowing, enveloping us all. The light faded completely and it felt as if were ceased to exist.

As soon as it began it ended. We materialized in Eterna City in front of the pokemon center rather than a hospital.

"Close enough," I grunted.

* * *

Amelia was diagnosed with a concussion and blood loss. They said she would likely be unconscious for the remainder of the day, to which I stayed in the room with her. Guilt gnawed at me. I should have noticed that Kody was acting strange, stealing glances at her, and perhaps he had been the one outside her tent. We had been so quick to trust when there are so many psychos out there and Amelia suffered because of our ignorance.

The door to her room was open and a very large man followed by an arcanine entered. I stared openly for a moment when he didn't leave.

"I'm sorry, are you in the wrong room?" I asked as politely as I could manage, but truth be told my patience was very frayed.

"No," he said simply before bringing the flowers he had brought to the nightstand beside Amelia. He had a pokeball in his hand which he pawed as for a moment before slipping it back into his pocket.

The arcanine padded over to the opposite side of the bed, gave Sirius a snuff, fluffy tail wagging. He then licked one of Amelia's hands.

"Then who are you?" I asked.

"A friend of Amelia's," he replied shortly as he stared down at Amelia with soft brown eyes.

"How did you know she was here?" I questioned suspiciously.

The man fished out something from his pocket and then flashed the badge at me. "I have connections. If anything were to happen to her, whether she be logged in a hospital database, reported missing, or incarcerated I would be notified."

"You're with the police then? Perhaps you can look into this then."

"No, I'm an international investigator. The local police have been dispatched. It's not my jurisdiction to see what is out there… _yet_ ," he then pulled up the other chair alongside of Amelia.

"How do you know Amelia?" I relaxed a little, not feeling as threatened by the guy as I had before.

"Helped her get to Sinnoh, met on a cruise actually. Right after she got that fellow right over there," he glanced over at Sirius who was lying at Amelia's feet. He refused to leave her. A steely look crossed the man's eyes as he lifted them toward me. "You killed them, didn't you?"

My blood turned to ice at the question and I felt my mouth dry. "Sirius was going to kill the one holding her hostage, but I stopped him. I don't believe that Arthur killed any of them."

"Shame," he muttered before turning his attention back to Amelia.

 _Shame? He wanted them dead? I mean, I don't like what they did either, but we can't just go killing people_ , I thought as I stared openly at him.

The man stood and closed the door behind him. "This cult is linked with many disappearances. Whether they be joining the cult or apprehended by them… I don't know. I've documented some links between them and Team Galactic or remnants of it. Everything isn't falling into place yet, but because those cultists were allowed to live chances are they might pursue her. Did they give you a reason as to why they took her?"

"One man, named Kody, said that she was supposed to be their 'Queen' as if she were some sort of chosen one. They believed in reincarnation because when he was went to stab her, to kill her, he said they would live again in another life," I felt sickened just describing it, the scene replaying in my head as Sirius attempted to slowly kill him.

"Then they might still come after her," he grumbled, hands balled and knuckles white from how tightly he was clenching them. He looked to Sirius. "If you see any of them again, especially the fuck who tried to kill her, end them," he breathed in a low voice to the ninetales.

Sirius bowed his head his eyes glistening at the man as he understood his mission. No one would touch Amelia, not as long as Sirius was by her side.

The man settled back, the chair creaking in protest beneath him. The silence between us was tense and disconcerting.

"My name is Jack Langely and yours is…?"

"Liam Zarkayan," he said, propping the side of his face up as he watched Amelia breath. There was a gentleness about him, masked by the worry.

Amelia stirred for the first time and blinked her eyes open. She glanced at me and, upon spotting the arcanine, turned to her left to see Liam.

"Liam?" she said lethargically and genuinely confused.

"What's up, how are you feeling?" the man's demeanor shifted completely. He was no longer the stone faced and militaristic male who had walked in.

"I-er, my head hurts. I could use some water," she grumbled.

I stood up, being the closest to the pitcher and poured her a cup, putting a bendy straw in it so she wouldn't have to sit up much to drink it.

Once she finished I set it back down.

"How did I get here?"

"Arthur's Xatu teleported us to Eterna City," I explained.

"Xatu? Arthur has a Xatu? What?"

Her face was becoming a bit flushed from all that was going on. "I'm going to step out," I told her. "Why don't you catch up with your friend?"

* * *

 _Hello everyone who has continued to read and give me reviews, thank you so much! I didn't think I would have as much success as I have been! And it's all thanks to you guys._

 _I've decided to create a pinterest page for ideas and characters if you wanna see what they actually look like and outfit ideas. If it's not your thing, cool, just continue reading. If you like putting images to words and descriptions, then I hope you enjoy this added resource for the story!_

 _Since this formatting doesn't like links simply type in pinterest's web url and then add this at the end:_

 _/labyrinthfaewn/blizzard-fandom/_


	9. Chapter 9

My head pounded and I wasn't too certain as to how I had gotten in the hospital, but I was surrounded by welcoming and familiar faces. I was taken aback as to why Liam was there and how he even knew where I was. I glanced down and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw a ninetales at my feet and not a vulpix.

 _How_?

Sirius moved his head and placed it on my feet, glancing up at me with round and intelligent eyes. He scanned me over, as if to make certain I was ok.

Jack left the room before I could really process anything, leaving me with Liam whose face was lined with worry. A bouquet of flowers sat on the desk beside me.

"Why do I feel so awful?" I asked.

"You have a concussion, do you remember anything before blacking out?"

I searched my memory, it was frayed and blurred, but I could recall somethings. "I got separated, it was really misty and hard to see where we were going. Then this guy started becoming all creepy and stalker like and then-" I touched my head recalling the blow from behind. "I didn't see much after that, but I caught glimpses. A torch lit village, all made from things from the forest. Pokemon native to the forest were created into macabre effigies on posts. I think I saw some of the others, but they weren't dressed like Kody. They used wood for clothes and painted their faces with some kind of blood… I don't know if I imagined it in my delirium or it really was that way.

"I was brought to a larger hut, but by then it was getting hard to hold on. My vision was blurring too much and I could only hear before I shut down completely. They believed I was some chosen one who would lead them after some sort of ceremony. Obviously the ceremony never took place, but their ramblings were that of very crazy people. Which is strange since Kody seemed like a normal guy aside from some quirks when he traveled with us."

"This Kody… he traveled with you?"

"Yes, he must have planned it all along, he started telling me before they knocked me out. He had been watching me since Floaroma and planned to intersect us. It was like he was in love with me, despite the fact that I didn't know him at all. It was very creepy," I muttered, sitting back a bit as my head throbbed.

Liam soaked in the information for a few quiet moments. He didn't speak and there was a hunch in his broad shoulders as he dwarfed the chair he sat in. He then scratched his beard and glanced up at me, eye brightening.

"Well, before you went and got yourself abducted by the Crazies, I intended on meeting you here in Eterna City. I suppose you didn't get any of my messages in the forest due to lack of signal, but I have a pokemon for you," the burly man reached into his pocket and pulled out an ultra ball with the mystery pokemon. "Since your success with Gible, I thought that you'd made a good pokemon foster parent. We often take pokemon from incarcerated trainers who have done bad things. Whether they be gang members, in betting rings, underground fighting pits, you name it. We usually send them to refuges where they can get full on attention, but I swiped this guy for you."

He spun the ball in his hand and then winked at me. "Where is he from?"

"Pokemon contestant who got caught selling and using opiates. Obviously means he probably brutalized the poor fellow and we confiscated him since that dude is going to be in jail for a good time. Since you rescued Sirius from a similar situation I thought you might like him," he opened the poke'ball and a small creature emerged.

A glimmer when the poke'ball released startled me and a teal bat clung to Liam's leg nervously. He lifted amber eyes and glanced around, enormous ears twitching as he quaked.

"A shiny noibat, he was bred to be shiny, but still quite rare. He is very timid, but you handled gible, so I don't think you'll have a problem with him," Liam told me before standing, placing the little bat on my chest.

Noibat continued to shake against me.

"Can you go into my bag, there are some poke'treats in there," the treats had been to trained Sunshine when she was a gible. I didn't like to give them out often, knowing that my pokemon would become rather addicted and I'd had to buy more.

Liam rummaged through my satchel and produced the small ziploc bag of treats. I motioned for just one and Liam handed it to me.

I offered it to noibat who sniffed at it. He hesitated but eventually took the treat from me. He calmed down a little, to which I began stroking his fur.

"What is with people and giving me dragon types?" I joked. "I'm going to get my ass handed to me by anyone who has ice or fairy type pokemon."

"You haven't caught anything else?" Liam teased.

"I caught a mareep. She's a flaafy now, but unless she learns some poison type moves, I'm still at a type disadvantage."

"Oh Liam, you're so great! Thank you so much for giving me this rare pokemon!" he jested, hitching his deep voice up as he pretended to be me.

"I'm not ungrateful," I scowled. "Thank you, he's precious and I'll help him come out of his shell-"

The door opened and a nurse entered with some sort of syringe. "I have your pain medication," she informed me.

Liam scooted out of the way so that the nurse could inject the liquid into my iv. The effects were nearly immediate and the nurse left after logging what time I had been administered the drug.

"Are you… going?" I asked, my mouth working slower. I knew what I wanted to say, but when I tried my mouth messed it all up.

"I can stay with you for the rest of the day, though I'm not sure you'll remember," he grinned placing a large hand on top of mine. I barely registered it. "But I do have to go back to work eventually."

"What about-what about… the guys?"

"I'll keep an eye out for them, don't worry this won't happen again," he promised me, squeezing my hand.

"Well if you say so it must be true," I hiccuped at the end.

Liam roared with laughter. "Your faith in me is uncanny."

"You've already done so much for me. Why shouldn't I trust you?"

"Go to sleep you little idiot. I'll be here as long as I can spare, but someone will be here with you when you wake up."

The medicine had already made my mouth looser than usual and it also had a lulling effect. I slipped back, head nodding off before I closed my eyes, Liam's face the last thing in view before I dozed into a drug induced stupor.

* * *

When I woke up there was no longer any sunlight filtering in from the window. Arthur was the only one in the room with me aside from Sirius and the noibat.

"Who was that hunk who was in here with you?" Arthur asked when he noticed I started to stir.

"Oh, Liam?" I grumbled.

"Tall, dark, bearded, and muscular?"

"Only person you could be talking about is Liam or some stranger who looks a lot like him."

"I'd ask if he were gay, but he seemed pretty fixated on you."

"We've had drinks together and he's helped me out of a hard place before," I shrugged as I sat up. Noibat stirred, having fallen asleep on my chest.

"He give you that little darling?" he gestured to noibat.

"Yes, he's a rescue. He works with an international investigation unit."

"A mighty fine gift, a shiny noibat," Arthur arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me. "Why don't you take a shower. The nurse said that once you woke up again you could check out an get your prescription for painkillers."

Liftin noibat up, waking him slightly, I set him down with Sirius. I slipped out of bed, a bit exhausted yet and weak. I steadied myself before continuing toward the bathroom that the room had. My mind lingered on what Arthur said. I knew he joked most of the time, but Liam had helped me a lot.

I stepped into the shower, wincing when the hot water touched my scalp.

The noibat had been a precious gift. He mentioned he had intended on giving it to me before the incident. He could have just dropped me off in Sinnoh and severed all ties, his job seemed as if it was one that required subterfuge and keeping an eye on me would really only be a hinderance. Sure, I might have been a good resource with the information I documented as a photographer, but now I was a trainer. I probably wouldn't be of more use for a good while and yet Liam kept investing in me. That or he really considered me a friend. But did you randomly go giving friends shiny pokemon you recovered from drug addicts?

I had a lot to think about. I didn't want to flatter myself and think that Liam might have liked me more than just a friend, but he had asked me for a drink when we first met, but that was under the premise that he knew who I was. It was an informal investigation in which I had spilled all the beans like a naive idiot.

He was always flirtatious, but I had always thought little of it. It just seemed like it was just how he was.

"Hey, darling I'm leaving your change of clothes in the bathroom. Don't worry I'm not peeking, I don't have any interest in what you've got," Arthur told me as he dropped the clothing off and shut the door again.

The hospital had some weird smelling shampoo and soap, but I used it for now. I could take a shower with other stuff another day.

I dried myself and changed, being careful not to tug too much at my hair due to the sensitive area on the top.

"Where's Jack?" I asked as I came out of the bathroom in my normal clothing and not the hospital gown.

"He went to defeat the gym while someone else was with you. Probably wanted to take his mind off of what he had seen," Arthur told me.

"What he had seen?"

"That place was creepy as fuck, Amelia. The guys I fought came out in like thongs of leaves and vine and had crowns of thorns. I don't know what was wrong with them, but their heads weren't on right. Something was

wrong with them. They had maimed pokemon nailed to posts. And they kept muttering incessantly, like they had voices in their heads. Kody was going to kill you, but Sirius stopped him."

I shook my head. "I don't want to think about it. Whatever shit is going on in there the police will take care of it."

"I hope so," Arthur said, shivering.

After packing my things up we headed downstairs. Sirius pressed close to me, much higher than he had been previously, enough that I could run my hand along his back as I walked. Noibat perched on my shoulder, hiding behind wet tendrils of her hair, clinging to my sweater with his little claws.

After checking out we stopped by the pharmacy and picked up my medication.

"Is there anything you want to do?" Arthur asked me. "Like coffee or a walk?"

"Coffee sounds good," I said as we walked the cool evening streets.

Eterna was also a large city, but unlike Jubilife it was filled with historical statues and relics. We passed an enormous museum that was closed for the night. Many of the stone buildings had ivy and cypress, which were in full bloom, crimson flowers smiling down at us in the lamp light.

Eterna was a charming city where Jubilife was new and futuristic. It was as if everything had been kept the same as it had been for a few hundred years, building perfectly preserved and maintained. My adoration for this portion of Sinnoh grew, aside from the dreaded forest that had led up to here.

We found a drive thru cafe that was open late and while it wasn't that good, at least we had something revitalizing to drink on our way to the pokemon center. I knew I wouldn't be able to fall asleep, but I could work on the photos I had on my computer before uploading them to my cloud and clearing my data cache.

Tomorrow I would fight the gym.

* * *

I woke up bright and early for the next day despite my lack of sleep from the night prior. I must have been juiced up from all the sleep I had gotten at the hospital or something. I went with Sirius and Noibat to a more reputable cafe and got breakfast. From my calculations, this gym would be an easy takedown with Sirius, especially since he had evolved.

I didn't know if there would be any other challengers that day which was also why I got there so early.

There were four trainers in total waiting for me before the gym leader Gardenia. In fact, the gym was so weak or Sirius was so strong that it only took one attack for each of their pokemon to defeat them. It had been easy to defeat the trainers at Roark's gym, but I knew not to underestimate the true strength of the gym leader, as they always seemed to be on another tier. I did have to say, despite the fact that Sirius annihilated the grass pokemon of the trainers, they were a bit older and more responsive than the youngsters who had been at Oreburgh.

The gym itself was actually quite beautiful and overgrown with foliage. Even the outside seemed as if it had been claimed by nature.

Finally, after sorting my way through the maze of an indoor forest I confronted the red head who was patiently awaiting me.

"Good morning," she greeted. "I see you have defeated all of my students."

"Good morning," I returned. "And yes."

"My name is Gardenia and I am the leader and holder of the Forest Badge. I see that you have an ice type pokemon and that has helped you quite a bit thus far. But now I'd like to throw you a bit of a curve ball… In order to defeat me we must have a double battle."

 _A double battle?  
_

I knew it was a thing but I'd never done it before. It was when each trainer had to command two pokemon at once against another two. I almost wished I could ask if only Sirius could fight, but someone chirped on my shoulder.

Noibat, who had watched all the other battles, seemed eager to give a try. I hadn't tested him in any battles and hesitated. He chirped again, showing his enthusiasm, but I wasn't convinced. Even then… Sunshine would be a bad match for a grass gym and Flaafy was less effective for the most part.

"If you insist," I told him, though Sirius gave me a tempered stare, warning me that it was a bad idea.

Sirius and noibat took the field. A referee came from out of a side door and the health bars for Sirius and noibat appeared on a screen.

"Interesting," Gardenia commented. "You have a very strong type advantage… for the most part." She then released a roserade and cherubi.

I pursed my lips, roserade was also poison which could prove to be trouble for Sirius depending on what moves it knew.

"Good luck and may the best trainer win," Gardenia said with a coy smile.

"Begin!" the referee cried.

Hail had already began to sleet down due to Sirius's ability.

"Roserade, flash!"

 _Flash?_

A blazing light blinded the entire side of our field. When it faded, Sirius seemed more affected that noibat, whose large ears helped him look in the right direction.

"Follow up Cherubi with magical leaf!"

Still recovering, even with my orders my pokemon did not have time to react.

The cherubi whipped up leafs that moved with uncanny precision. Both Sirius and noibat were hammered with them, taking damage.

"Roserade, use flash again!"

 _Not this time!  
_

"Sirius use mist!"

Sirius didn't need to see to seeth the mist out. He was faster than roserade and so the mist enveloped them before the flash went off, negating its effects.

"Noibat follow up with wing attack!"

For such a small pokemon he did put a lot of heart into it. Beating his tiny wings he stirred up much more air than anyone would have thought possible for him. He drove it toward the opposing pokemon, but it only hit cherubi.

It didn't do as much damage as I wanted it to either, which meant that noibat was not very strong and a hard hit from either grass pokemon might knock him out.

"Roserade, weather ball!"

I knew immediately who she was aiming it for. "Noibat, agil-"

But the attack, now ice based, hurled into the tiny creature and sent him zipping to the ground unconscious as it was 4x effective.

"Sorry little guy, I knew you weren't ready. It was a valiant attempt," I told him before withdrawing him into his poke'ball. I knew this wouldn't help with the poor thing's nerves at all.

I grabbed Flaafy's ball, weighing it in my hand before tossing it. Flaafy had been doing exceedingly well, perhaps since she had no prior human contact and didn't need healing. However, she was a bit… clingy.

I released flaafy and she immediately turned around, trying to waddle toward me so that she could nuzzle. I pointed in the opposite direction. "If you do well in battle, I'll give you a hug," I told her.

Flaafy turned her head and then ditzily trundled over and next to Sirius.

Gardenia had waited calmly while my pokemon situated themselves before dishing out her next orders. "Roserade, cherubi, both use magical leaf!"

The combined attack would certainly ravage the both of them, since grass was normal damage to the both.

"Flaafy dart forward under it and use take down on cherubi. Sirius psychic on roserade."

The storm of magical leaves only grazed flaafy as she took off, but battered Sirius, taking a considerable chunk of health away. But instead he focused on roserade through the storm and despite the fact that an ice move would have been more powerful, a psychic move like this wouldn't have a chance of missing across the field.

Flaafy smashed into cherubi, nearly flattening it. The grass pokemon took considerable damage left at only 20% health with it constantly ticking down due to the hail. Flaafy remained at a strong 80%.

Sirius inflicted the move upon roserade who flinched and closed his eyes against the attack, falling to a knee. The super effective move spiraled his health down to a meager 10%.

However, Sirius had also sustained an onslaught and remained at only 40%.

"Again, magical leaf!" she ordered the both of them. It was a battle against time and who was faster.

"Flaafy, discharge!" she was already on their side of the field, her proximity meant that her attack would most certainly hit the both of them.

Flaafy flared up and released a potent shockwave that coursed along the ground and zipped into both of the opposing pokemon.

Despite not being very effective, roserade keeled over and was no longer able to battle.

Cherubi could barely stand and remained with only a meager amount of health.

Gardenia, using her judgment, withdrew them both.

"And the winner is, the challenger!" the referee called.

Flaafy hopped back over, bouncing on her heels as she grabbed me, knowing she had finally deserved her long awaited hug. Just as she did I was blinded by a flash. If flaafy could continuously evolve, I bet after every few battles that she would. Now she stood nearly as tall as me and her hug was less like that of a young child and more like that of an adult. Her static made my hair stand on end as I finally calmed her down and approached Gardenia.

"Congratulations, here is the Forest Badge. It allows you to use the HM cut in the wild," Gardenia told us as she handed me a badge with three green trees, the trunks whited out.

"Thank you," I said, accepting it. This battle wasn't quite as memorable as Roark's but I knew that I had a strategetic advantage when coming here.

"Good luck in your future endeavors," Gardenia told me with a smile.


	10. Chapter 10

Reports of a strange makeshift village in the forest flooded the news. The strangest part was the absence of people, meaning that the police had gotten there after they had fled. People were fixated on their television trying to learn what they could about this threat in the forest, but either they weren't releasing anything or they didn't know.

I had thought they were crazy and maybe they were just that, but they seemed to possess some intelligence despite their demented states of minds. They might have collected their things and fled to somewhere deeper in the forest or who knew where. I just hoped that I never crossed paths with them again and they didn't continue their piqued interest in me.

We had traveled through the bike path with little issue, hearing rumors from the other trainers who decided to keep up with the news. Our next feat was Mt. Coronet, but after what I had just gone through in Eterna Forest I wasn't quite smiling upon another endeavor through a wild area that was likely to take a good while.

"It shouldn't take a long time to make it through," Jack promised me as I glanced upon the tunnel skeptically. "Perhaps just the better part of the day, this tunnel was meant to go straight through the underneath of the mountain."

Mt. Coronet was the largest summit in a chain of mountains that criss-crossed Sinnoh. It was a spectacular sight and was always covered in a dusting of snow. It would have been fun to climb to the summit if my near death experience wasn't so soon in the past.

Sirius brushed against me, sensing my discomfort. I buried my hand into his plush fur before glancing up at the mountain that loomed down over me. There was no way around it, we had to go under.

My mind was preoccupied, a buzz of confusion and thought. I didn't speak much because I desperately wanted to know about the strangers who had abducted me. I had been so weak, unable to defend myself despite proving myself time and time again as a good trainer. What if I became one of the best and it still didn't help me when it came to people who meant harm?

I wanted to save pokemon and perhaps people too. Was a trainer what I wanted to be? I loved the community, but my mind was consumed by what I had been involved with. How many people had fallen prey to them? What were they doing with those people? Why had they done that with the pokemon?

This was taking too long. Perhaps if I were younger and worried by less it would have been easier to complete this journey, but I wanted to help now. I wanted to be able to defend myself and my pokemon in every way possible. I had been so helpless that I needed to be rescued yet again. No more with this damsel in distress. It was the reason I became a pokemon trainer and even now it wasn't enough.

Jack noticed that I was brooding. "What's on your mind?" he asked.

"Just…" I started, considering what I should say. "What happened."

"The police are taking care of it," he assured me.

I gave him a sidelong glance, pursing my lips. "They didn't find anything. I'm not even certain they're capable of handling what we found."

"And what does thinking about it all day with a frown on your face do to help?"

"I'm wondering what _I_ can do to help," I informed him.

"Why are you obsessing over it, they tried to kill you. I'd say just leave it behind you," Jack told me.

"And if they come back after me? Do you expect me to accept my fate? I don't want to be victim again," I snapped before I realized how sharp I was being with a friend. He had witnessed it all too and probably didn't want to be reminded about the ordeal. But unlike him, I wanted to do something about it.

"Perhaps…" Jack started. "Being a pokemon trainer isn't right for you."

I thought he was calling me a poor trainer and was about to give a glib remark when I saw the expression on his face. It had softened.

"In Hearthome City there is an organization called the Peace Corps. It's a militant agency that is international. If I had to bet, your friend Liam is likely an investigator for them. If you want to help so badly, you should probably try speaking to recruiters there," he informed me with a gentle voice. "You've proven yourself to be an exceptional trainer so far, but I can see it in your eyes. Perhaps you were always meant to tread that path. Now you have even more reason to."

I was at a loss for words, there was no trying to talk me out of it. Joining a military organization? If you had asked me back in my years in college I would have laughed my liberal ass off. But after seeing all the terrible things in the world, if I could put my skills to use that would help both people and pokemon… It would be worth it. No one should have to suffer as I did and might have had I not reliable friends and pokemon.

"It's a lot to consider," I muttered to him.

"Of course, it's a big sacrifice, but you seem like you've made your mind up."

"I haven't yet," I told him, but a voice whispered in the back of my head that I had. I didn't want to be the bystander or the victim, I wanted to be one of the heroes. People weren't going to willingly fight pokemon battles when they could use weapons or subterfuge to their advantage.

The rest of the trek under the mountain was just as tense. My mind was wandering over the possibilities and what I could do with my life. There only seemed so few possible options and one loomed so much greater than the others. Join the Peace Corp.

* * *

The decision was made, but my day in Hearthome City was going to enjoyed with my friends before I started signing paperwork and figuring out where I would fit within the Corp. I could see that Arthur was a bit hesitant to support my choice, but he didn't actively try and talk me out of it. There were only the slightest of hints that he didn't think it was a great idea.

He said he'd be working on the line he intended for me originally and if I were released from training I could continue to debut the line. I appreciated the notion, but seeing that I was going to no longer be a pokemon trainer I thought it would be more suitable to give it to someone else. Arthur was obstinate and thought I still represented the female trainer that he had in mind.

Eventually, it was time for me to make my way through the city and to the sleek white building that labeled as the Peace Corp. Inside I was direction to a liaison officer and recruiter. I felt out of place and strange around so many sharply dressed people who wore uniforms. I sat down before being called up.

"Good afternoon, my name is Sergeant Witter, what can I help you with today?"

"Joining or enlisting or whatever you call it," I said albeit nervous.

"Did you have a job in mind?" Witter asked.

"I want to investigate or be on the scene of active sites. I want to be one of the people who fights, gets in the grit, or even goes undercover. I don't know what kind of job that is, but I have skills. I have a degree in photography and I've got pokemon-"

"You have a degree?" the sergeant asked.

I gave a vigorous nod.

"Having a degree puts you in for officer candidacy off the bat. Do you have any student debt?"

Another simple nod.

"We can also help with that…" he clicked away. "If you have an ID I can start inputting your information."

I pulled out both my trainer ID and my normal one.

"Huh," Witter said after a moment. "We already have your chart in our system."

"What do you mean?" I asked, brows furrowed.

"Your skills, chart, pokemon team… We've got it all… Amelia?"

"I did travel here to Sinnoh with an international investigator, perhaps he obtained my information then and has been keeping it updated?" I suggested.

"Yes, a… Oh, dear."

"What is it?"

The sergeant glanced up at me with a long stare as if he were sizing me up. "If you want to join you're going to have to speak with someone who has a higher clearance than I. Your file has been flagged."

"Flagged?"

"One moment, I'll get someone here," he told me before he picked up the phone beside him. "Yes I have a candidate for your program," he moved back to the computer. "File number… 681435." He listened for a few moments longer, nodding his head occasionally. "Yes… Yes… Ok, I will do sir."

Sergeant Witter hung up the phone and then gave me an apologetic look. "You're going to have to go to floor B13 to speak with someone about joining. Unfortunately there is nothing I can do for you on this end." He filled out a slip of paper and then handed it to me. "This will give you the authority to go to that floor. Good luck."

"Thanks?..." I drawled, taking the paper and exchanging glances with Sirius. We left the office and headed for the elevator. We stepped inside and clicked one of the various buttons. The anticipation was intoxicating and when we reached the floor, the calm, clean militaristic air vanished and two men stood outside the elevators in black suits.

"Can we help you?" one asked, glaring down at me.

"I have this," I told them in a small voice, handing them the paper.

The man who took it scrutinized the paper and then handed it back to me. "Down the hall, first door on the left," he told me. "Don't poke around, go straight there. And no funny business with your pokemon."

I gave a furious nod before scurrying down the hall to the door I had been directed to. I knocked, but upon no answer I simply turned the knob and entered.

The office was dimly lit and sitting behind a desk was a man so finely combed and cleaned that I felt my skin prickle with discomfort.

"Miss Amelia Barnheart, please, take a seat," he told me.

I shut the door behind me and was too intimidated to do anything other than requested.

"I'm interested in what I can do for you today. I've been keeping an eye on you, but I hadn't hoped in my wildest dreams that you would actually be interested in joining our ranks."

"I'm sorry…" I started uncomfortably. "Who are you?"

The man gave a smile that could have curdled milk. He reached forward and shifted a plaque that glinted in the light; _Michael Rodgers._

"You've already supplied us with documentation of behind the scenes in pokemon contests and I think that your skills could be of further use… if you had the proper training. Unfortunately, due to our interest with you in the past and your recent encounter with a mysterious cult we're now looking into, you're no longer qualified for joining the military sector of the Peace Corp."

"Then what am I qualified for, sir?"

"Please, _Michael_. We're not military down here," he flashed me another smile. "You are qualified to be a special agent. Your photography skills are actually an asset. Of course, we would teach you more… How to disguise your tech, how to pretend to be someone you are not, how to defend yourself, and how to work with your pokemon to complete practical applications. I do warn you, that if you embark on this training there is no turning back or leaving."

This sounded similar to what I wanted. I would be trained more than the average soldier, I would be one of the elites. However, with this training came with knowledge I could not betray. I wouldn't be able to tell Jack or Arthur and my work could possibly endanger them.

"This is what I want," I insisted finally.

"Wonderful, we have a few computer tests that you will need to complete while we undergo setting up your training. I do warn that it will take months to complete your training."

"As expected," I shrugged, skill didn't come together overnight.

"If you come with me I'll set you up with the programs I need you to work with."

Michael led me into a computer lab and typed in a certain username and password. He directed me to the tests I needed to complete.

One was a competency test, just overall knowledge. The second was more specialized, it was about memorization and recognition. There were faces I had to recall, details I had to pick out from large images of a busy city square and other scenes. I found that despite being complicated, it was among my favorite test. The one after was a critical thinking test in which you answered the prompts by writing. There were prompts of various things such as battle tactics, defusing situations between people, etc.

Once I finished Sirius and I were escorted into a bright white room where we sat for what was possibly hours, alone.

Finally, a woman entered with a file.

She sat across from me and opened the file. Her hair was immaculately pinned and bunned. She wore a fine tailored black suit with a pencil skirt.

"Your test results are in and from out conclusion in the data collected, it seems that you have an eidetic memory, a photographic memory. You've scored perfectly on the second test for super recognizer and recalling small details in busy images. You scored above average on the intelligence test. As for the tactics exam, you showed ingenuity and knowledge, but also recklessness. However, our superiors liked your unpredictability.

"You make a fine candidate. I have brought the paperwork that will start you in your training as well as your payment, since joining us is a full time job."

"And what exactly _is_ my job? No one has exactly specified."

"You will be a special agent, this encompasses a very broad field, but that shall be your title. Where our superiors choose to put you is their choice, but you shall be versed in all of the required training. One of the biggest jobs as a special agent is subterfuge and investigation. You may be deployed on missions for weeks to months at a time or short events for just an evening."

"I suppose it's more of 'you'll figure it out as you go' kind of job, then?"

The woman chuckled. "If that's how you'd like to think of it. Should we begin?"

We started the paperwork, by the time we were finished my vision was growing bleary and my head began to hurt. I could have used dinner, but no one had offered and to be honest I wasn't even certain what time it was since there were no windows.

Once I had signed my soul away they gave me a reservation in a nearby hotel when I retired to. They informed me that they would be in contact in the morning about where they would be sending me for my training.

My orders were underneath my door in the morning. I was to report to the local airport and catch a flight to the island just northeast of Sinnoh. I was supposed to be training somewhere around Stark Mountain, whatever that meant.

* * *

The training began just as soon as I landed. It started with military training and I was subjected to a test of my mental strength. Drill Sergeant Mason made certain that she made my life a living hell. Whether it be by pushups or running a mile, she always seemed to have something ready for me. During this time I learned the ranks of the military and the customs. I got few hours of sleep along with Sirius, my partner. My other pokemon were taken for the first weeks of my training and both of us had to rely on each other.

Eventually Drill Sergeant Mason was replaced by Master Sergeant Amsterdam. He started working battle drills and pokemon co-op. I had to learn how to work alongside of all of my pokemon now, not just Sirius. I had to know their strengths and weaknesses and what they each could do for me in the wild or in a battle scenario. He wasn't as hard on me mentally as the drill sergeant had been, but my body gave out a few times despite the weeks of training prior. In those cases, it was up to the conditioning my pokemon had to make up for what I couldn't supply.

Amsterdam also introduced hand to hand combat and thinking like the enemy. Despite how hard he worked my body, I found that he was among one of my favorite trainers because of how strong he was and unified he was with his pokemon. I was sad to see him go to be replaced with yet another trainer.

I was surprised to meet a ranger as my next mentor. Ranger Sanchez taught me about the wilderness, different herbs and how to read a map and navigate. We went over survival tactics and how to make tools and shelters from things that could be found out in the woods. Yet again, working with my pokemon in these primal conditions was key. It seemed that an agent's best tool and partner was their pokemon. Without them, we _could_ fight, but we were hindered.

A few trainers came and went such as a doctor, a tactician, and a psychologist.

It was the trainers who used a combination of the skills these people had that made life more difficult for the weeks they were around.

My final trainer was Commander Florina. She was an agent and demanded the most of me, recapping on everything. She expected perfection from me and when I did not present it there was punishment to come with it. It seemed as if I would never catch up to her, whether it be running, fighting, or shooting. Florina was always ahead of me and while I knew it was probably just because of her superior experience, it was aggravating as hell.

She briefed me in handling secret information and warned me that people would even try and use my pokemon as a means of torturing me into betraying knowledge. Out of everything I had been through, the hardest wasn't the physical aspect. I could always grow stronger over time. It was the thought that someone would hurt my pokemon to get to me. I wouldn't allow it, I couldn't afford to.

There was so much you could lose that was worse than death. I had never even considered half of it until now.

Did I think the world was more terrible now after all of my training and what I had learned? No, I knew that there were always secrets hidden within the world that were not kind. Now I could deal with it rather than be a bystander. But the whole purpose of this training also was to know my limitations and what I could accomplish on my own. I was not immortal or perfect and there were battles that my pokemon and I could not win. There were people who were trained better than I for striking enemies, I was a data collector, disengaging at every possible moment only left to fight when I had to. Even then, more than a single opponent would be a challenge for me. My photography skills became a focus and the main tool for collection would be normal cameras and the new tech they had outfitted me with.

Every now and again my mind would linger on my friends and what they were up to. Had Jack finished gaining all of his badges for Sinnoh? Had Arthur decided on using another woman for his fashion line? How were they doing?

* * *

 _Author Note: Thank you all so much for reading this far. I realize that this is a huge shift, but to me there were really only two ways this story could go and I felt as if the plot would be more interesting if we chose to follow the dynamic line with the cult. Of course, being just a pokemon trainer would have presented many issues and thus I chose this route, which wasn't a light decision. However, do not worry because we certainly have not seen the last of Jack or Arthur or less. They'll certainly be around just as much as before._


End file.
